Dana Gas ramps up Kurdistan gas production by 30%

Natural gas output capacity raised to 400m cubic feet to meet growing demand

Gas production capacity at the Khor Mor field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has increased by 30 per cent to meet growing demand, Sharjahbased Dana Gas and its partner Crescent Petroleum said in a statement yesterday. The two companies operate the field on behalf of Pearl Petroleum.

“This production increase marks an important milestone as we also commemorate ten years of continuous production, and the beginning of a new chapter of expansion in operations and production which will see a further investment of over $600 million [Dh2.2 billion] over the coming few years and a more than doubling of production again,” said Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum and managing director of Dana Gas.

The expansion at the Khor Mor gas processing plant consisted of a series of plant additions and modifications to reduce bottlenecks, raising output capacity from 305 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of natural gas to 400 mmscfd, with over 15,000 barrels per day of condensate.

The plant, which began operating in 2008, supplies natural gas from the Khor Mor field by pipeline to power plants in the towns of Chemchemal and Arbil, and will soon supply a new plant in Bazian.

Further investment is underway to expand production to 900 mmscfd over the coming three years, together with associated liquids, according to the statement from both Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum.

“Despite many challenges over the past ten years we are proud to have maintained our production levels and operations, and now with the settlement of all past receivables last summer and continuous payments since then, we look forward to significantly growing production to meet the growing demand for gas and electricity in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole,” said Dr Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas.