SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Iraqi government may reactivate a deal with Halliburton Co. to drill wells in a western gas field in Akkas next month, Bloomberg cited the oil minister as saying.
Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said in an interview with al-Forat channel that an agreement with Halliburton would enable the oil ministry to get clear data on the production capacity of the Akkas field and it may reach a decision after the holy month of Ramadan, according to Bloomberg.
The field has been idle for years due to internal strife before the government recaptured it back from Islamic State militants in late 2017.
Officials have been in talks with Chevron Corp. and Saudi Aramco about investment in the region, Bloomberg reported.
It “will depend on the data we get from the exploration and well-drilling operations,” Bloomberg quoted Abdul Jabbar as saying.
In February, Abdul Jabbar said gas from the field would be consumed in Iraq and help the country use less oil to produce electricity.
Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, aims to reach self-sufficiency in gas by 2025, according to Bloomberg.
The country is working on a plan to develop its vast gas fields with the aim of generating 80 percent of its gas locally, and it will only need to import LNG in the summer months of June, July and August, the oil minister said in February.
Demand for air conditioning soars in that period, when temperatures often hit 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).
Iraq depends on oil sales for more than 90% of its public budget and has been under pressure from the United States to reduce its reliance on gas imports from Iran.
