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TotalEnergies Re-affirms Commitment to Iraq Energy Projects

By John Lee.

France’s TotalEnergies has re-affirmed its commitment to energy projects in Iraq.

Following a meeting in Paris with Iraq’s Minister of Oil, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, the Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne, said that Iraq is one of the most promising countries in attracting global investment for energy projects.

He added that TotalEnergies is ,”committed to partnering with the Iraqi government for its keenness to deal with us transparently, and to achieve the principles of mutual trust in a way that serves the common interests.”

Last year, Iraq and TotalEnergies agreed a series of high-value investments in Iraq, including:

  • The construction of a new gas gathering network and treatment units to supply the local power stations, with TotalEnergies also bringing its expertise to optimize the oil and gas production of the Ratawi field, by building and operating new capacities.
  • The construction of a large-scale seawater treatment unit to increase water injection capacities in southern Iraq fields without increasing water withdrawals as the country is currently facing a water-stress situation. This water injection is required to maintain pressure in several fields and as such will help optimizing the production of the natural resources in the Basra region.
  • The construction and operation of a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 1 GWp to supply electricity to the grid in the Basra region.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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PM announces new Ministry of Electricity and Alternative Energy

By John Lee.

The Iraqi Prime Minister has announced that the Ministry of Electricity is to be renamed the “Ministry of Electricity and Alternative Energy“.

At a press conference in Baghdad, Mustafa al-Kadhimi (pictured) said it is unreasonable to build gas power stations when there is not enough gas available, so the new ministry will actively seek alternative power sources.

In the past, he said, power stations were built, “in an absurd manner, without planning and without knowledge.”

He also referred to the country’s electrical interconnection projects with the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt, which will provide power until Iraq reaches self-sufficiency.

Addressing the annual shortage of electricity during the very hot summer season, he said that last year’s production of 21,000 MW will not be achieved this year, due to the reduction in gas supply from Iran.

(Source: Govt of Iraq)

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Iraq committed to Renewable Energy

By John Lee.

The Minister of Oil, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, has said that Iraq is committed to reducing carbon emissions through implementing a number of gas investment projects and developing gas fields, as well as projects to produce solar energy.

At a conference in Iraq under the title “Pathways for a lower carbon future for Iraq“, GE presented an integrated roadmap to support the energy transition sector in Iraq by focusing on specific areas, which include:

  1. Use of associated gas for power generation: Iraq can benefit from associated gas to generate more than 13 gigawatts of power, which would meet the needs of up to 15 million houses in the country;
  2. Converting simple cycle (SC) to combined cycle (CC): Converting electric power plants from simple to combined cycle can help enhance their efficiency by up to 50%, and decrease emissions intensity by 35%. GE estimates that if this solution applied to 19 different sites, it can provide approximately 5.3 kilowatts of additional power over a  4 -year period without burning additional fuel;
  3. Use of  hydrogen for power generation, and deploying post combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies: Use of hydrogen as a fuel for power plants and/or adoption CCS solutions in the future can decrease emissions rates to near zero levels in the long term. GE has more than 100 units around the world that are fully or partially hydrogen-powered and collectively clocked more than 8 million man-hours. Many of GE model B, E and F turbines in Iraq can also be modified to run on 100% hydrogen in their operations.

The conference included a presentation of a short film entitled “Renewable Energy – Our Way to Protect the Environment“, prepared by the Media Office of the Ministry of Oil, and another film prepared by General Electric Company about the company and the energy transition.

The conference was attended by a number of Advisers to the Prime Minister, Directors General of the Ministry of Oil affiliates, and a number of specialists and experts in the field of clean energy.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Siemens working with Iraq on Hydrogen Production

By John Lee.

As part of its efforts to switch to clean and renewable energy, Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has said it is working with Siemens to produce hydrogen.

The German company will provide advanced technologies and equipment for the project, and set up workshops to support the initiative.

The first of these workshops was held on Monday.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Iraq, Saudi Arabia “to sign $billions of Energy Contracts”

By John Lee.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia are reportedly about to sign energy deals worth tens of billions of dollars.

The state-run Al-Sabaah newspaper quotes Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar (pictured) as saying that Iraq is negotiating with oil giant Saudi Aramco to enter as a partner in contracts for gas exploration in the Western Desert.

He added that Iraq has intensified discussions with the Saudi company ACWA Power to build water desalination facilities and clean energy plants.

ACWA Power launched a successful IPO on the Saudi Stock Exchange last month, the biggest IPO on that exchange since Saudi Aramco’s in 2019.

(Source: Al Sabaah)

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Fighting Climate Change “an Economic Opportunity” for Iraq

Writing in the Financial Times, Iraqi President Barham Salih argues that addressing climate change represents an opportunity for Iraq and the region to introduce measures that will leave them on a more solid foundation as they face the challenges of the decades to come.

Click here to read the full article (subscription required)

(Picture: Tigris river in central Baghdad; Credit: Christian Lindgren)

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The Massive Challenge of Climate Action in Iraq

By Lizzie Porter, for The New Statesman. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The massive challenge of climate action in oil-dependent Iraq

Oil provides 90 per cent of Iraq’s revenue. Even as farmland dries up, fractured governance makes reform seem almost impossible.

Click here to read the full story.

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Norwegian-led Consortium to build Solar Plant in Karbala

By John Lee.

Iraq signed an agreement to build a 525-MW solar power plant in Karbala.

The project will be built by a consortium of companies led by the Norwegian Scatec, whose main shareholder is Equinor (formerly Statoil).

Also involved are Egypt’s Orascom and Iraq’s Al-Bilal.

The signing comes after recent announcements of renewable energy projects by Masdar, TotalEnergies and PowerChina.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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TotalEnergies signs $10bn New Deals in Iraq

TotalEnergies, the Iraqi Ministries for oil and electricity, and the country’s National Investment Commission (NIC) have signed, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Iraq, major agreements covering several projects in the Basra region, designed to enhance the development of Iraq’s natural resources to improve the country’s electricity supply.

Iraq, a country rich in natural resources, is indeed experiencing electricity shortages while it faces a sharp increase in demand from the population.

TotalEnergies, with the support of the Iraqi authorities, on the one hand will invest in installations to recover gas that is being flared on three oil fields and as such supply gas to 1,5 GW of power generation capacity in a first phase growing to 3 GW in a second phase, and, on the other hand, will also develop 1 GWac of solar electricity generation capacity to supply the Basra regional grid.

These agreements include:

  • The construction of a new gas gathering network and treatment units to supply the local power stations, with TotalEnergies also bringing its expertise to optimize the oil and gas production of the Ratawi field, by building and operating new capacities.
  • The construction of a large-scale seawater treatment unit to increase water injection capacities in southern Iraq fields without increasing water withdrawals as the country is currently facing a water-stress situation. This water injection is required to maintain pressure in several fields and as such will help optimizing the production of the natural resources in the Basra region.
  • The construction and operation of a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 1 GWp to supply electricity to the grid in the Basra region.

These projects represent a total investment of approximately $10 billion (100% share).

Patrick Pouyanné, TotalEnergies’ Chairman and CEO, said:

“These agreements signal our return through the front door to Iraq, the country where our Company was born in 1924. Our ambition is to assist Iraq in building a more sustainable future by developing access to electricity for its people through a more sustainable use of the country’s natural resources such as: reduction of gas flaring that generates air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, water resource management and development of solar energy.

“This project perfectly illustrates the new sustainable development model of TotalEnergies, a multi-energy Company which supports producing countries in their energy transition by combining the production of natural gas and solar energy to meet the growing demand for electricity. It also demonstrates how TotalEnergies can leverage its unique position in the Middle East, a region where the lowest-cost hydrocarbons are produced, to gain access to large-scale renewable projects.“

(Sources: TotalEnergies, Ministry of Oil)

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Iraqi Cabinet Approves TotalEnergies’ Projects

By John Lee.

The Iraqi cabinet has approved the agreement between the Ministry of Oil and French company TotalEnergies to implement four major energy projects in the country:

  1. Plants to collect and refine associated natural gas at the fields of Artawi [Ratawi], West Qurna 2, Majnoon, Tuba [Subba] and Lahais [Luhais]. This will include a Central Gas Complex at Artawi;
  2. Development of the Artawi field;
  3. The integrated seawater project [Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP)?], which the ministry has been trying to implement for more than ten years; and,
  4. A 1,000MW solar energy plant.

The project was originally agreed in March.

(Source: Govt of Iraq)

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