Iraq has signed three energy contracts with the UAE-based Crescent Petroleum to develop three oil and gas fields in the country, according to the oil ministry. Crescent Petroleum, located in the United Arab Emirates, secured three 20-year contracts in February to develop oil and natural gas reserves in Iraq's Basra and Diyala provinces in northern Baghdad.
The Crescent Petroleum contracts are expected to begin producing 400 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas within 18 months, the oil ministry statement quoted Iraq's oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani as saying. Abdel-Ghani, who attended the launch at the oil ministry headquarters in Baghdad, said starting operations by Crescent Petroleum will help Iraq to stop gas flaring and use the processed gas to generate electricity, as per reuters.
The OPEC producer's electricity grid is mainly reliant on Iranian gas supplies. However, the US has pressed Iraq to minimize its reliance on Iranian gas. Iraq continues to burn part of the gas extracted with crude oil because it lacks the infrastructure to convert it into fuel for domestic use or export.
Crescent Petroleum is the first and largest private upstream oil and gas company in the Middle East. Crescent Petroleum was created in 1971 and is headquartered in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with current operations in the UAE and Iraq's Kurdistan Region. Crescent Petroleum and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil have signed three twenty-year contracts as the company focuses on supporting Iraq's recovery.