TotalEnergies, CPP to build Basra gas pipelines for Iraq
Shafaq News- Basra
Iraq will start laying the pipeline network for a major gas-capture project in the Basra oilfields this month, the state-owned Company for Oil Projects (SCOP) said Wednesday, adding that it had completed technical and operational preparations to begin work at the Artawi field on a scheme designed to cut the gas routinely flared, or burned off, at southern oilfields.
The director of the company's South Projects Authority, Abdul Hakim Qadouri, said a joint meeting with TotalEnergies of France and China Petroleum Pipeline (CPP) of China, attended by representatives of Basra Gas Company, settled the final requirements for launching the work, including pipeline routes and supporting facilities.
The project involves laying pipelines of 10, 12, and 24 inches to carry sweet gas, which is low in sulfur, and building launching and receiving stations. It also includes a 20-inch line for sour gas, which is higher in sulfur and more corrosive, within the WQ2 block of the West Qurna 2 oilfield.
According to Qaddouri, behind the engineering is a persistent Iraqi problem: the country flares much of the gas produced alongside its crude for lack of infrastructure to capture it, then imports gas and fuel to run its power stations. The project falls under Oil Ministry efforts to make use of this associated gas and process the volumes coming off producing fields, reducing flaring and drawing more value from the resource.
The Artawi Gas Midstream Project (GMP) forms part of TotalEnergies' Gas Growth Integrated Project, a multi-billion-dollar program in Basra that also covers oilfield redevelopment, a seawater supply plant, and solar power, according to the French company.
The Company for Oil Projects said the pipeline work is scheduled to begin this August.
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