Kurdistan gas project goes on stream

Dubai: A joint venture of Dana Gas, the Middle East's first private sector natural gas company, and Crescent Petroleum has begun gas production in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

The $650-million (Dh2.4 billion) 50:50 partnership between the two companies completed the first phase in a record 15 months along with a 180km pipe-line to supply gas to the Arbil and Sulaimaniya power plants.

The plants will eventually generate 1,250MW of power.

The projects will save Iraq about $2.5 billion in import costs annually.

The first phase production from the project is 75 million cubic feet which will be increased to 300 million cubic feet later.

The project is being executed under a strategic alliance with the Kurdistan Regional Government.

"This is the first project of its kind in Iraq, and it will provide important economic and social benefits for the Kurdistan region and all of Iraq", said Majid Jafar, the executive director of Crescent Petroleum.

"We aim to now build on these achievements in the Kurdistan region and across Iraq, with our strategic focus on maximising economic benefit and addressing local needs," said Ahmad Al Arbeed, the upstream executive director for Dana Gas.

The project imported 50,000 tonnes of equipment and employed more than 2,000 Iraqi workers.