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Turkey signs natural gas operating deal with Iraq
TPAO General Manager Mehmet Uysal and Abdul-Mehdi al-Amidi, director of Iraq's Office of Licensing and Contracts at Iraq's Oil Ministry, have signed an agreement on the operating rights for Mansuriya and Siba natural gas fields for 20 years. On Oct. 20 of last year, Iraq auctioned off three major natural gas fields to international companies, part of its strategy to shake off a legacy of war and isolation by opening up the lucrative sector. TPAO and its consortium partners won the tender for the operating rights to the Mansuriya and Siba gas fields. The fields have estimated combined reserves of 11.23 trillion cubic feet of gas, about 10 percent of Iraq's total 112 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, the world's 10th largest.
In his remarks to the Anatolia news agency, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız said Turkey is ready to support the development and stability of Iraq's energy sector. “Turkish companies will do anything to win more tenders in Iraq's energy sector,” he said. Iraq's Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Elaibi underlined that they are very happy to sign an agreement with Turkey in order to develop natural gas fields in the country.
It is expected that the Turkish energy minister will return to Turkey Sunday evening after completing his visit to the Turkish embassy in Bagdad.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq has struggled to develop its oil and gas industry. The sector, which had been ravaged by years of sanctions-induced neglect and damage, saw development efforts move fitfully as looting and sabotage added to the damage it sustained during the US-led effort to oust former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Demand has also exploded as Iraqis can now buy appliances never available under Saddam's government.
Iraq has awarded 15 oil and gas deals since 2008 to international energy companies in the first major investment in the country's energy industry in more than three decades. The country, which sits atop the world's fourth-largest proven reserves of crude, also holds 126.7 trillion cubic feet of undeveloped gas reserves. For years, Iraq flared -- or burned off -- the gas largely because it lacked adequate facilities to process it.
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