Iraq signs contract with Shell, Mitsubishi to develop southern gas fields

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Oil Ministry has signed an initial contract in Baghdad on Tuesday with the international companies Shell and Mitsubishi to develop the gas fields in southern Iraq.   “The Oil Ministry has signed an initial contract with the international companies Shell and Mitsubishi, to draft up a final document for the development of southern Iraq’s gas fields, which shall be presented to the Council of Ministers for final approval,” Iraq’s Oil Minister, Abdul-Karim al-Lueiby said in a statement, which was received by IraqiNews.com news agency.   Iraq’s Oil Ministry had signed a preliminary contract in September 2008 with Shell Company, in which it defined the conditions for establishing a joint company for the investment of the gas and the accompanying crude oil, produced from southern Iraq’s Basra Province’s fields.   The statement quoted the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s Undersecretary for Refineries Affairs, Ahmed al-Shamma’a, saying that the motives for signing the said agreement is to raise the productive capacity of the liquid gas in Iraq from 2 million to 2.5 million cubic feet.   On his part, the Director-General of the state-owned Southern Iraq’s Gas Company, Ali Khudhier, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Oil Ministry, said that the implementation of the agreement “shall open the door of competition for Iraq to export its liquid gas to the international markets.”   SKH (TI)/SR 763