Baghdad – IA – Wissam Al-Mulla
Today, Tuesday, Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani revealed a promising project to produce gasoline and dispense with imports. While he touched on projects to invest in associated gas, he expressed his hope to stop burning it completely within 5 years, while indicating work to reduce emissions by 16 percent. He explained the reasons for this. Withdrawal of some foreign companies from Iraq.
Abdul Ghani said in a meeting within the activities of the Al-Rafidain Forum and attended by the correspondent of the (INA): “The government sent invitations to specialized European companies to invest in gas, and we contracted with the French Total to invest in gas,” indicating that “the contract is going well and we hope to achieve success in gas production.” “.
He added, “One of the most important issues that the new government has taken upon itself is to achieve the goal of stopping gas burning, so we went to all the fields that produce gas, and there are contracts that have been signed to invest in it,” noting that “the duration of gas investment projects is long because the equipment is designed according to the project and we expect The gas burning process should stop completely within 5 years.”
He continued in his speech, “By achieving this goal, Iraq will be one of the leading countries in reducing gas emissions, and we are working to reduce emissions by 16 percent.”
He stated that “the northern refineries that were destroyed by ISIS terrorist gangs were recently restored to work with a capacity of 150 barrels per day,” explaining that “there is a promising project in the southern refineries to produce gasoline with a capacity of 4,500 cubic meters, which will eliminate the need to import gasoline, and after 2025 we expect it to stop.” On importing petroleum derivatives for the country’s self-sufficiency.”
He pointed out that “Iraq imports oil derivatives worth 5 billion dollars annually, and we were importing more than sixteen thousand cubic kilometers of gasoline per day, and the import decreased to five thousand cubic meters thanks to the completion of the Karbala refinery and the completion of the idle units in the southern refineries.”
Regarding the oil and gas law, he explained, “The issue was discussed with the Kurdistan region in more than one meeting with the aim of preparing a draft of the oil and gas law, and many paragraphs were discussed, but some events stopped the dialogues.”
He pointed out that “the Iraqi state’s budget depends 90 percent on oil exports.”
Regarding the withdrawal of some foreign companies that worked in Iraq, Abdul Ghani explained, “Shell withdrew from the Iraqi oil market as a result of a change in its global policy, as it reduced much of its work and moved towards investing in gas.”
He added, “As for ExxonMobil’s withdrawal, it came because, according to what it said, it received a better offer than the offer given to it in Iraq.”
He continued, “We entered into in-depth negotiations with other foreign companies to invest in the oil sector, including the American company KBR, and we have come a long way in the negotiations.”