Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Dana Gas and its partner Crescent Petroleum have announced they achieved a 30% hike in production capacity at the Khor Mor field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which the companies jointly operate on behalf of Pearl Petroleum.
This increase came to supply needed gas to fuel power plants in the region and to mark the two companies’ 10 years of continuous production in the region in a special ceremony with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil, according to a press release.
The companies have boosted their output capacity at the Khor Mor gas processing plant to 400 million cubic feet of gas from 305 million cubic feet with over 15,000 barrels per day of condensate due to “a series of plant additions and modifications to de-bottleneck throughput, the press added.
The plant, which began operation in 2008, supplies natural gas from the Khor Mor field to power plants in the towns of Chemchemal and Erbil, and will soon supply a new plant in Bazian, Dana Gas said.
Moreover, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas liquids (NGL) produced at the Khor Mor plant are sold to the local markets, the gas company added.
In January, Pearl Petroleum has signed a gas sales agreement with the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources to sell additional quantities of gas to the power stations as an affordable and environmentally favourable fuel to improve electricity supplies in the region, the press noted.
Total investment in the Kurdistan Gas Project surpassed $1.4 billion to date with total cumulative production over 250 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), which has resulted in over $20 billion of fuel cost savings and economic benefits for the region and Iraq as a whole.
The two companies are currently conducting further investments to expand gas production to 900 million cubic feet per day over the coming three years, according to the press.
“This production increase marks an important milestone as we also commemorate ten years of continuous production, and the beginning of a new chapter of expansion in operations and production which will see a further investment of over $600 million over the coming few years and a more than doubling of production again,” CEO of Crescent Petroleum and board managing director of Dana Gas Majid Jafar commented.
“The gas we have produced has led to significant fuel savings and social and economic value for the economy, and we hope to grow this in the years to come from the significant resources of these world-class fields, for the benefit of the Kurdistan Region and all of Iraq,” Jafar continued.
For his part, Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas, said: “Despite many challenges over the past ten years we are proud to have maintained our production levels and operations and now with the settlement of all past receivables last summer and continuous payments since then, we look forward to significantly growing production to meet the growing demand for gas and electricity in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole.”
In August 2017, Pearl Petroleum had received $1 billion in cash from the KRG for past receivables to expand their investment and operations in the region after they reached a full and final settlement of the arbitration between them.
Dana Gas and Pearl Petroleum are currently implementing a multi-well drilling program in both the Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields, in addition to installing additional gas processing and liquids extraction facilities.
