Mitsubishi Corp. has accepted an offer from the Iraqi government and the Royal Dutch Shell to take a 5% share in the proposed South Gas Utilisation Project (SGUP) joint venture currently under development by the Iraq’s Ministry of Oil and the Anglo-Dutch supermajor.
The Japan-based company has been invited to participate by Iraq and Shell due to its knowledge of the existing South Gas Company facilities and complementary technical and commercial capabilities.
“We have a long and close relationship with Shell for over 40 years in the global energy sector and are delighted to be a strategic partner in this project. said Jun Nishizawa, VP of Mitsubishi said.
“We have been also conducting business in Iraq for many years, hence we expect to further enhance our relationship with Iraqi Ministry of Oil by taking advantage of this opportunity,” he added.
SGUP joint venture is being established in order to gather, treat and process raw gas produced in Basra and sell the processed natural gas and associated products such as condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for use in the domestic and export markets.
The joint venture also said that it could develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility to also export natural gas.
700 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas, which is produced by upstream suppliers in association with oil, is currently flared every day in southern Iraq.
