MEOG: Ukrainian firm signs Akkas deal

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil (MoO) this week finalised the award of a contract to develop the Akkas gas field to little-known Ukrainian firm Ukrzemresurs.

The potential award was alluded to in August when the shortlist for the field was revealed to have been reduced to one firm from Ukraine and one from Armenia.

A signing ceremony was attended by Oil Minister Hayyan Abdulghani as well as representatives of the Ministry of Oil’s Midland Oil Co. (NOC) and North Oil Co. (NOC) subsidiaries and the Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD), and Ukrzemresurs.

Abdulghani said: “The national effort at MOC had previously been able to operate the field within the treatment plan to supply the Akkas gas station at a rate of [60mn cubic feet (1.7mn cubic metres) per day].”

MOC began production from four wells at the field in April last year, with the State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP) implementing a 30-km pipeline to transport output to the Akkas power station.

Abdulghani said: “The Ministry aims, through the contract with the Ukrainian company, to reach a rate of 100 mmcf [2.8 mcm per day] for the first stage in one to two years, and 400 mmcf [11.3 mcm] within four years.”