Iraq Approves $17 Billion Gas-Capture Contract With Shell, Mitsubishi

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-15/iraq-approves-17-billion-contract-for-gas-capture-with-shell-mitsubishi.html

Iraq approved a $17-billion contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Mitsubishi Corp. (8058) for the capture of natural gas at three oil fields in the south of the country, a government spokesman said.

Iraq has a 51 percent stake in the venture known as South Gas Co., Ali Al-Dabbagh said today by phone. Shell has a 44 percent stake, while Mitsubishi owns the rest, he said by telephone from Baghdad. The agreement is for 25 years, according to Al-Dabbagh.

Iraq, holder of the fifth-biggest natural-gas reserves in the Middle East, is struggling to restore power capacity after years of conflict and economic sanctions. The captured gas will supply domestic needs and may be exported at a later stage, Hans Nijkamp, Shell’s country chairman for Iraq, said Sept. 29.

“The cabinet approved it today and thus gave its green light to this $17 billion project,” he said. The venture will help collect more than 2 billion cubic feet a day (57 million cubic meters a day) from the Rumailah, Zubair and West Qurna fields, said Al-Dabbagh, who is one of the country’s state ministers.

It's about time the oil firms started to capture and use the gas
rather than just flaring it off in their usual wasteful & polluting
manner.