The Iraqi Ministry of Oil let a contract to Sinopec Petroleum & Chemical Corp. to develop Mansuriya gas field near the border with Iran.
The contract term is 25 years with the possibility of a 5-year extension. Sinopec will develop two wells in the field and will finance all exploration, assessment, development, and production activities.
Phased production will begin with 50 MMscfd and will continue toward targeted production of 300 MMscfd. The 150-sq km field is estimated to hold gas reserves of 4.5 trillion standard cu ft.
"The field will provide enough gas to generate 1000 Megawatts of electricity," said Minister of Oil Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail.
A contract to develop the field was won in 2010 by a consortium of Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas), Kuwait Energy, and Turkish Petroleum International Co. (TPAO), but work was not started due to area security concerns at the time (OGJ Online, Oct. 20, 2010). The Ministry of Oil reintroduced the field in the sixth licensing round in 2021, which was awarded to Sinopec.
Sinopec is operator (49%) with state-owned Basra Oil Co. holding the remaining 51%.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
