International expert: The untapped gas wealth makes Iraq an important global energy source

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International expert: The untapped gas wealth makes Iraq an important global energy source

[size=45]International energy expert Simon Watkins pointed out in his report that Iraq’s continued dependence on importing gas from Iran has economic and political consequences at a time when new gas projects with international companies could add large quantities to the production volume of gas produced in Iraq and reduce its dependence on imports. Pointing out that the huge untapped gas reserves hide a potential power that may make Iraq an important energy source in the world.[/size]
[size=45]The expert, Watkins, said that Iraq possesses huge amounts of gas reserves, but its failure so far to develop stations to extract and manufacture it in a fundamental manner has caused three major problems related to it and the global energy market. The first problem is leaving the country dependent on neighboring countries, especially Iran, to import 40% of its needs necessary to operate electrical power plants. Secondly, the continuous import operations from Iran have, over the years, become an important source of disputes between Iraq and the United States, leading to undermining many investments required in the country.[/size]
[size=45]As for the third dilemma or problem, the international expert points out, it is represented by the recurring difficult repercussions experienced by the Iraqi budget, despite the country’s possession of huge oil and gas wealth resources, large quantities of which are still not widely invested. However, the Iraqi Oil Minister, Hayyan Abdul-Ghani, said last week that several huge projects had recently been awarded to foreign companies that would add an amount of approximately 3 million cubic feet per day to Iraq’s gas production, and may pave the way for other new projects to be adopted. .[/size]
[size=45]One of these major gas projects is part of a four-contract project worth $27 billion that was originally agreed upon between the French company Total Energy and the Iraqi government in 2021, but a long delay occurred due to attempts by the Iraqi side to change terms in the contract that were agreed upon later. . The first part of the deal represents an initial investment of $10 billion dedicated to the unified gas development project. The goal is to collect and manufacture associated gas instead of burning it and using it for local consumption and exporting the surplus to support the national budget with additional revenues. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, recently commented on these projects that Iraq will stop gas imports within two years after the completion of giant gas field development projects.[/size]
[size=45]The international expert points out that Iraq possesses potential energy from wealth and gas reserves that enable it to become a major international player in this field of energy. Iraq has a proven reserve of natural gas amounting to approximately 131 trillion cubic feet, ranked 12th as the largest gas reserve in the world. The size of the reserve may be larger than announced, but the volume of investment in it is not the size of the investment allocated to crude oil field development projects.[/size]
[size=45]In addition, there is associated gas that accompanies the process of developing oil field investments. The dates of the projects that were planned to exploit this gas date back to the year 2017, when plans were made to completely end the burning of gas, which, according to the International Energy Agency, constitutes 23% of the gas burned in the eastern region. The entire middle. But this percentage has not changed much since then.[/size]
[size=45]It is very likely that other exploratory operations during the coming decades will add huge quantities of gas to the proven reserves, taking into account the successful rates of drilling and exploration that have been achieved so far in Iraq. For example, less than half of the potential energy of Iraq's oil reserves has been located by means of seismic examination, exploration, and drilling wells, and among these sites, 65% of the oil has been found in them.[/size]
[size=45]In general, the International Energy Agency puts the average proven crude oil resources at 246 billion barrels (crude and liquid natural gas), with the possibility that there will be other huge quantities of associated gas from these discovered fields and wells.[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that other Chinese and Russian companies are interested in winning an investment in the huge Akkas gas field in Anbar Governorate, as part of the sixth oil and gas licensing round, as the Ministry of Oil plans to double the daily production rate of natural gas. The Akkas field is considered one of the giant gas fields, with an estimated reserve of approximately 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent, in an effort by the Ministry of Oil to reach a production rate of approximately 400 million cubic feet of gas per day. The Okaz field is considered one of three huge gas fields discovered so far, in addition to the Siba field in Basra and the Mansouriya field in Diyala.[/size]
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