Kurdistan gas..a promising alternative to Russian gas collides with a number of challenges

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[size=52]Kurdistan gas..a promising alternative to Russian gas collides with a number of challenges[/size]

[size=45]The Kurdistan Regional Government seeks to transport natural gas to European markets, via Turkey, while the emerging project faces a number of challenges, due to its regional and local extensions, as well as the legal discrepancy regarding this path. Last February, the Kurdistan government concluded an agreement with Kar Group to extend its gas pipeline to reach the Turkish border, and to implement the project completely within 16 months.[/size]
[size=45]To deliver a 36-cubic-inch pipeline of natural gas from the (Khormor) gas field to Erbil, and another 52-cuga pipeline from Erbil to Dohuk, thus bringing the gas pipeline to the Kurdistan Region 35 km from the Turkish border. Specialists believe that this project is an important and strategic step that may enhance the country's financial resources, as well as being an "opportunity" in light of a global gas crisis due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, which could be one of the important options for supplying the European Union with Kurdish gas as a potential and promising alternative to Russian gas.[/size]
[size=45]The recent Kurdish movement comes as part of the region’s efforts to strengthen its economic independence. After the export of oil, the turn of the gas file with Europe came in light of the old continent’s tendency to search for alternatives to Russian gas after the war on Ukraine.[/size]
[size=45]But despite the strategic importance of the project, it faces a number of internal and external challenges, due to its association with the federal government, as well as the position of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan refusing to export gas without its consultation and conditions, in addition to the Iranian refusal, considering that Kurdish gas will be a competitor to it. In addition, there is a Russian reservation that the region's gas exports will crowd out Moscow's exports to Ankara.[/size]
[size=45]Following the Iranian attack that targeted Erbil last month, Reuters quoted Iraqi, Turkish and American sources as saying that a nascent plan for the Kurdistan region of Iraq to supply gas to Turkey and Europe is part of what angered Iran and prompted it to bomb Erbil with 12 ballistic missiles. Iraqi and Turkish officials emphasized that they believed the attack was a multi-pronged message to US allies in the region, but the main motive was to disrupt a plan to pump Kurdish gas to Turkey and Europe. In this context, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc, Sabah Sobhi, believes that "the region is committed to the decisions and laws of the federal government, and there will be a negotiating round to coordinate the export of oil and gas with it."[/size]
[size=45]Sobhi said during an interview with (Al-Mada), that “the countries of the world are awaiting a crisis in oil and gas, while attention is directed to the gas-producing countries to cover the shortage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that the Kurdistan region is one of the sources of energy, and oil in the main, which requires taking steps to establish Gas pipelines from the Kurdistan region to Turkey and from there abroad.” Representative Sobhi believes that "this is considered one of the strategies of the Kurdistan Regional Government in the next stage, as we are within the energy-producing map, and we must fill the energy shortage that will occur in Europe in the future." Official data issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources indicate that the Kurdistan Region possesses 5.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, while sources indicate that 3% of the world’s natural gas reserves are located in the Kurdistan Region, and it is estimated at (100-200) trillion cubic feet. The Khurmala and Kormore fields are among the largest gas fields in the Kurdistan region.[/size]
[size=45]Some gas fields are located in Sulaymaniyah province, which is controlled by the Patriotic Union Party headed by Bafel Talabani, such as Kormore field, Chamchamal field, and Miran field. In turn, Salah al-Moussawi, an expert in oil and energy affairs, believes that "this project may create a state of tension and a new dispute between the center and the region, especially since Iraq imports gas in hard currency from Iran, so extending a pipeline abroad is absolutely illogical for a country that imports." Gas".[/size]
[size=45]In an interview with Al-Mada, the expert Al-Moussawi believes that "the gas is produced from the Khor Mor field, and this field was established by the Iraqi government in 1976, and all agreements with the region stipulate that any oil or gas project that was established before 2003, it belongs to the Iraqi government administration." Ownership and revenue.[/size]
[size=45]Statistics and reports indicate that the Kurdistan region can export 30 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to Turkey and the European Union countries, with revenues of up to 60 million dollars per day, i.e. one billion and 800 million dollars per month. On March 8, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, announced that the region would begin exporting natural gas to Europe soon.[/size]
[size=45]He said during his speech at the World Energy Conference held in the UAE: “We will become a source of gas to the rest of Iraq, Turkey and Europe in the near future, and we will help meet their energy security needs. We already have an oil export capacity, which serves as our primary economic lifeline and a vital potential resource for our partners.” Despite the start of the project now, experts talk about the region's need for about five years of strategic work, to be able to start extracting and exporting gas in a commercial form, if investments were available and with it legal and security stability during this period.[/size]
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