The Iraqi government insists on signing a contract with a private to transport gas from Sulaimaniyah to Kirkuk to increase electricity production in the province. At the same time, the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG rejects contracting without its prior consent.
The KRG Ministry of Natural Resources said in a statement Wednesday that the gas production in the Khor Mor field of Chamchamal district is allocated to the electricity sector according to the contract with Pearl Petroleum (Dana Gas).
According to KirkukNow, the gas pipeline extension from the Khor Mor field to the Kirkuk gas power plant has been completed, waiting for the agreement and decision of the Iraqi government to transport gas.
"The Iraqi government is currently negotiating a contract with Dana Gas to transport 100 million cubic feet of gas from the Khor Mor field to Kirkuk," an informed Iraqi anonymously told KirkukNow.
“That is the reason behind the statement of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government,” he added.
"What is clear is that the Iraqi government insists on this step and wants to sign a contract as soon as possible because its preparations for the gas pipeline have been completed.”
The Iraqi government insists on this step and wants to sign a contract as soon as possible
The gas pipeline between Khor Mor and Jambur, which dates back to the 1980s, has been renovated and a branch from the Jambur field to the new district power plant has been opened and is ready for transportation.
Khor Mor is a conventional gas field operated by Pearl Petroleum, owned by Crescent Group Holdings, Dana Gas, MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas, OMV, and RWE, according to Global Data. The gas field recovered 14.58% of its total recoverable reserves, with peak production expected in 2025, production will continue until the field reaches its economic limit in 2080. The field currently accounts for approximately 2% of the country’s daily output.
Earlier, a source in the state-owned Northern Oil Company told KirkukNow, "The gas is not for sale, only domestically and to increase the electricity production capacity of the plant.”
The Iraqi Oil Ministry said in a statement on November 5, 2023, that the project to lay a gas pipeline from the Khor Mor field to the Kirkuk gas power plant, the largest power plant in Kirkuk province, has been completed.
The northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed province for 1.7 million Kurds, Sunni and Shiite Arabs, and Turkmen. It has long been at the center of disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil.
Kirkuk is one of the main disputed areas in addition to Diyalah and Nineveh a three-stage process outlined in Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution in 2005, stipulating normalization, a population census, and a referendum on the status of the territories, was drawn to put an end to Erbil-based Kurdistan Region Government KRG and Iraqi Federal government dispute over these areas.
Kirkuk crude oil was exported daily through the (KRG) oil pipeline to Turkey, yet has been suspended since March 25, 2023, following a decision of the International Court of Arbitration in Paris against Turkey.
There are five main crude oil producing fields in Kirkuk province; Avana, Bay Hassan, Baba Dome, Jambur and Khabaza, under the control of the Iraqi Government’s North Oil Company.
