Pearl Petroleum, the company consortium led by Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas, signed a 10-year gas sales agreement with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), Pearl Petroleum announced on Wednesday.
The sides aim to supply and sell additional quantities of gas to the region and Iraq as a whole from the fields that the company plans to begin producing later this year.
The KRG Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami, CEO of Crescent Petroleum Majid Jafar and CEO of Dana Gas Patrick Allman-Ward signed the agreement on Jan. 30, the company noted.
It will pave the way for an increase in delivered gas production from the Khor Mor Field by an anticipated 80 million cubic feet of sales gas per day before the end of 2018, from the current level of 305 million cubic feet per day, the company says.
"All contractual conditions precedent for the agreement have since been satisfied and consequently the project work has now commenced," the company announced.
The KRG holds potentially more than 200 trillion cubic feet of gas, and is committed to playing a positive role in the growing gas and electricity needs of Iraq and the region, according to Hawrami.
"The gas sales agreement marks an important milestone in our tenth year 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," Jafar was quoted as saying.
As part of a final arbitration settlement with the KRG in August 2017, Pearl Petroleum committed to expanding its investment and operations in the region.
The consortium plans a multi-well drilling program in the Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields, as well as the installation of new gas processing and liquids extraction facilities. The overall aim is to increase gas production by a further 125 percent within two years, to 900 million cubic feet per day.
(Anadolu Agency)
