Pearl Petroleum has inked a long-term gas sales agreement (GSA) with the Kurdistan government in Iraq for an additional 250 MMscf/day of gas to be produced from the Kurdistan Gas Project.
Image: The Kurdistan Gas Project in Iraq. Photo: courtesy of Dana Gas PJSC.
The 20-year agreement is expected to enable production and sales of the additional capacity aimed to be produced from the Kurdistan Gas Project by 2021. For the Kurdistan government, the additional gas volume will help in boosting the domestic electricity generation.
Pearl Petroleum is a consortium made up of UAE-based Dana Gas (35%), Crescent Petroleum (35%) and OMV, MOL and RWE, which all hold stakes of 10% each.
Established in 2007, the project draws gas from the Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields with production from the Khor Mor plant launched in October 2008.
Currently, a $700m expansion project is being carried out at the Khor Mor plant. As part of this, the consortium will introduce two new production trains and also undertake drilling of new wells to increase the production from 400 MMscf/day by 63% to 650 MMscf/day by 2021, in line with the GSA.
By 2022, Pearl Petroleum expects to increase the capacity beyond 900 MMscf/day.
Previously, the consortium increased the production of the Kurdistan Gas Project by 30% from debottlenecking throughput to achieve the current figure of 106,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
The Kurdistan Gas Project, which has seen investments of over $1.6bn till date, has produced more than 260 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Dana Gas CEO Patrick Allman-Ward said: “Dana Gas and our partners in Pearl Petroleum are particularly proud to be investing further in the gas sector of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, delivering a reliable source of cleaner energy, and supporting local economic development.
“The continuing receipt of payments in a timely manner gives confidence for our continued investment commitment as we enter our second decade of production.”
The Kurdistan Gas Project delivers natural gas from the Khor Mor field through pipeline to power plants located in Bazian, Chemchemal and Erbil. The LPG and condensate produced from the project are sold in the local markets.