Shell, Mitsubishi to work on for Basra gas

Iraq’s Cabinet has accepted a proposal by Royal Dutch Shell and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. to jointly develop natural gas facilities in the country through a venture dubbed Basra Gas Co., Iraq’s deputy prime minister for energy has said.

Shell is going to focus on the capture of the flared natural gas at facilities near Iraq’s southern port, in Basra, Hussain al-Shahristani said yesterday at the Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum, which was organized by the Atlantic Council in Istanbul.

Shell has also pulled out of oil talks with the regional government in northern Iraq, Reuters reported.

Most of the natural gas in

Iraq is flared because the country lacks the technology to contain the resource.

Shahristani also said Iraq was ready to address regional gas shortages. “The competing markets for Iraqi gas are Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, our neighbors in the Arab Gulf countries and also the European Union,” Shahristani said.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said that in order to maintain the security of the natural gas supply, general security in Iraq must first be attained. “We need to unite our efforts in Iraq.”

Hawrami also said the Turkish market was by far their

biggest market in Europe. “So we will be looking at the Turkish market first.”