Iraq to import natural gas from Iran

Associated Press ^ | Jul 23, 2013 6:43 AM EDT

[Olog-hai]

An Iraqi government spokesman says Baghdad has signed a deal with Iran to import natural gas for power generation, further intertwining the economies of the two Shiite-dominated countries.

Electricity Ministry spokesman Musab al-Mudaris said Tuesday that the four-year deal stipulates that Iraq buy 850 million cubic feet a day of gas at international market prices. …

[allendale]

Doesn’t Iraq, the country for whom so much American human and material treasure was sacrificed, know that the United States currently has imposed sanctions against Iran? Hey where’s the gratitude for all that nation building?

[DoughtyOne]

You’ve got to ask yourself, why would an oil rich nation like Iraq need to import natural gas? It must have many times the natural gas supplies it needs under it’s soil.

[thackney]

why would an oil rich nation like Iraq need to import natural gas? It must have many times the natural gas supplies it needs under it’s soil.

Natural Gas isn't always found in significant volumes with crude oil. It is a varying ratio and different in every field.

[my small voice]

We can’t figure a way to sell it to them? Nevermind, we don’t need the money. sarc.

We are idiots.

[DoughtyOne]

I’m sure that’s true. I still can’t believe Iraq is without Natural Gas resources. What’s your take on it?

[onedoug]

All of our blood and treasure, for this?

[Honcho]

I can understand the frustration. I would say the more the economies become intertwined, the less like these two countries will go to war with one another. A benefit to be considered.

[thackney]

They do have natural gas. They don’t have enough infrastructure and may or may not have enough gas in the location close to their need at Baghdad. Iran has a huge amount of gas and trouble selling it. They have built up some of the gas infrastructure at near Baghdad.

This may be a combination of gas available quickly, cheaply while proving they are not the US puppet.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks Thackney. For some time I have been amazed at how seemingly ineffective the Iraq government has been with regard to getting oil production up to speed after the war.

I would have brought in a number of oil companies, let them bid on various sites. Give them a slice of the action, and watch the profits roll in.

It seems the same problem is taking place with regard to natural gas too.

How can you squander resources like that, when the rewards are right under your nose, and just months to a few years away if developed professionally.

[thackney]

They are getting better. They did bring in companies from other countries, held auctions and awarded to those that are drilling and expanding the oil production.

Iraqi gross natural gas production rose from 81 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 2003 to 660 Bcf in 2011. Some of this natural gas is used as fuel for power generation, while a portion of it is re-injected to enhance oil recovery. However, the majority of Iraqi natural gas production is flared. Flaring losses in some months have exceeded 60 percent of production, or more than 1 Bcf per day, due to a lack of sufficient pipelines and other infrastructure to transport it for consumption and export. As a result, Iraq's five natural gas processing plants, which can process over 773 Bcf per year, sit mostly idle.

To reduce flaring, Iraq signed an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to create a new joint venture, Basrah Gas Company, to capture flared gas in Basrah Province. The 25-year project costing $17 billion has a planned production capacity of up to 2 Bcf per day.

More at:
http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=IZ

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks Thackney.

Man, I’d do my best to stop that flaring immediately. Of course you can’t, but that is all lost energy and revenue.

All you have to do is collect and distribute.

Sounds like their plans for the future are still quite anemic.

[thackney]

You cannot stop flaring immediately. Shut down the gas and you shut down the oil.

You have to build a gas gathering and processing infrastructure. As it said, it was going to cost $17 Billion to build it. You cannot do that overnight.

[dfwgator]

This is the net result of all our meddling in the Middle East, one Islamic regime after another.

[thackney]

By the way, we have the exact same problem in North Dakota today. The amount of gas being produced is barely worth the cost of the infrastructure to be built, because the Gas-to-Oil-Ratio is so low. They have extended the periods they allow flaring to prevent the wells from being shut in.

[DoughtyOne]

Okay, then perhaps that’s the problem in Iraq, and I’m just not understanding the dynamics in play. I appreciate the mention.

[Olog-hai]

This is Democrat meddling—the concept of “give them ‘democracy’ and they will love us forever”. What should have happened after 9/11 was the USA smashing the Iranian regime, and hard.