Gazprom Neft Launches Iraq Plant
Gazprom Neft subsidiary Gazprom Neft Badra has launched commercial operations at its 1.6bn m³/yr gas processing plant at the Badra field, Iraq, the Russian company announced December 6.
The dry feed gas is shipped by a 100-km pipeline to the Az-Zubaidiya power station, supplying electric power not just to provinces throughout Iraq, but also to the capital Baghdad. CEO Alexander Dyukov said the gas will also be used to meet the Badra project’s own needs: "Five gas turbines are able to produce a total 123.5 MW of electric power, supplying oil and gas processing facilities, drilling rigs and oil-producing wells.”
Dyukov also said that the company is continuing its development of the Badra field, in strict adherence to the field development plan. “Today sees the full-cycle gas plant – built by our company using the most cutting-edge technologies available on the world market – going into commercial production. This is a unique enterprise for the region, at which Gazprom Neft has, since starting work, been able to monetise all the hydrocarbons produced here, ensuring associated-petroleum-gas (APG) utilisation of at least 95%.”
Russian energy minister Alexander Novak was present at the opening ceremony for the new facility, together with Iraq’s oil minister Jabbar al-Luaibi.
Iraq’s flaring surged to 17.7bn m³ last year, from 16.2bn m³ in 2015. It also re-injects gas to oil fields to maintain barrels production and only produced 1.1bn m³ sale gas last year, according to BP statistics.
Iraq started importing gas from Iran in June 22, starting at 7mn m³/d and reaching 12mn m³/d in November. The gas is flowed to Baghdad, but Iraq is preparing to intake more gas from Iran to supply Diyala province which lies between Iran and Baghdad. Iran is obliged to supply 25mn m3/d to this route as well as a further 25mn m³/d to Basra, expected to start next year.
The Badra oilfield in the Wasit Province of eastern Iraq is estimated to contain 3bn barrels oil. The contract for development of the field is expected to run for 20 years, with potential for extension by a further five. Gazprom Neft’s share is 30% and its partners are South Korean Kogas (22.5%), Malaysian Petronas (15%) and Turkish TPAO (7.5%). The share of the Iraqi government, represented by the Iraqi Oil Exploration Company is 25%.