Other stories: World’s 10 largest oil and gas contractors | World’s 10 largest oilfield services companies | 10 events in oil’s history that shook the world | Top 10 Gulf mega projects
The CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) has said that the company has a US$1.5 billion war chest to spend on a number of acquisition targets over the next six to nine months.
Peter Barker-Homek told Reuters that the state-controlled utilities company is looking at using some of the money to enter the Iraq power sector. The company would look to spend an initial $250 million before increasing its investment as security in the country is improved. Â
“The initial investment will be small but will grow… we will probably go after gas before we go after oil,” Barker-Homek is reported by Reuters as saying.
“We are looking at power plants around the country. There is a lot of kit in Iraq that just needs a confident operator and that’s what we are planning to do this year,” he added.
The Iraq utilities industry is seen by many experts as to be as untapped as some of the country’s oil wells. However, the sector would need substantial investment from any companies interested in entering the market. Currently Iraq is blighted by power cuts and energy shortages.
Â
