TotalEnergies breaks ground on Iraqi gas processing project
TotalEnergies SE has started construction of an initial gas treating unit as part of the larger 300-MMcfd gas processing plant under the first-phase development of the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), a multi-billion-dollar project aimed at monetizing and developing the natural gas resources of Iraq and improving the country’s electricity supply (OGJ Online, Apr. 5, 2023).
Designed to reduce gas flaring at Ratawi field in Southern Iraq by yearend 2025, the early gas treating unit known as ArtawiGas25 is a modularly designed unit that will process 50 MMcfd of associated gas previously flared from the field, TotalEnergies said on Jan. 10.
Gas processed by ArtawiGas25 will subsequently be supplied to local power plants to help cover demand of about 200,000 households in the Basra region, according to the operator.
TotalEnergies said ArtawiGas25’s design could also pave the way for potential replication across other yet-to-be-identified Iraqi oil fields.
The ArtawiGas25 unit represents the first $250-million investment of the broader $10-billion GGIP multi-energy project under development by operator TotalEnergies (45%) and partners Basra Oil Co. (30%) and QatarEnergy (25%) (OGJ Online, Jan. 19, 2024).
Alongside the project’s main gas processing plant that will ultimately recover gas currently flared from three oil fields in the Basra region to supply gas-to-power generation plants, the GGIP will include construction of a seawater treatment plant to provide water injection for pressure maintenance to increase regional oil production as an alternative to water use from rivers and aquifers, as well as a 1-Gw solar power plant to supply electricity to the Basrah regional grid.
Construction of GGIP’s proposed solar power plant is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks, said Julien Pouget, Total Energies’ senior vice-president of exploration and production for the Middle East and North Africa.
The partners most recently let a contract to John Wood Group PLC to deliver front-end engineering design (FEED) on the GGIP’s first-phase associated gas upstream project (OGJ Online, June 12, 2024).
Robert Brelsford | Downstream Editor
Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University.
