KRG Ministry of Natural Resources

18 September 2013

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (krg.org) - At a ceremony today at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani signed a gas supply agreement with the Norwegian company DNO, which will provide natural gas to fuel the power plant in Duhok from the gas field at Summail.

The agreement was also signed by Ashti Hawrami, on behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and a representative from Anglo-Turkish company Genel Energy, which has an interest in the Duhok production sharing contract that covers the Summail field.

The gas supply agreement marks an important step in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) policy to reduce its reliance on diesel to run the Region’s electricity generating stations.

It involves the development of an important domestic gas field by internationally experienced operators using advanced technologies for the benefit of the people of the Kurdistan Region.

Prime Minister Barzani said, “This agreement will bring significant savings in the high cost of diesel imports to the Region and has important environmental benefits.”

Initially, around 100 million cubic feet of gas per day will be piped to the Duhok plant, sufficient to fuel four power generation units. Gas supplies are expected to increase from the Summail field as further appraisals and drilling take place.

The pipeline that will carry the gas some 50 kilometres to Duhok from Summail is under construction, with completion expected by November.

“With commissioning and tie-ins to the well, gas could be delivered as early as January 2014, but certainly no later than March,” Minister Hawrami said after the signing. “We are on track with our objective to fuel all the Kurdistan Region’s electricity generating stations with natural gas in the next three years.”