Home Industry Energy UAE’s Crescent, Iraq launch deals to develop three oil and gas fields The Crescent Petroleum contracts are expected to begin producing 400 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas within 18 months by Reuters October 19, 2023 Image credit: Getty Images Iraq has launched three energy contracts with UAE-based Crescent Petroleum to develop three oil and gas fields in Iraq, the oil ministry said on Sunday. United Arab Emirates-based Crescent Petroleum signed in February three 20-year contracts to develop oil and natural gas fields in Iraq’s Basra and Diyala provinces in northeastern Baghdad. Iraq to leverage existing reserves The Crescent Petroleum contracts are expected to begin producing 400 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas within 18 months, the oil ministry statement quoted Iraq’s oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani as saying. Abdel-Ghani, who attended the launch at the oil ministry headquarters in Baghdad, said starting operations by Crescent Petroleum will help Iraq to stop gas flaring and use the processed gas to generate electricity. The OPEC producer relies heavily on Iranian gas imports to feed its power grid. But the US has pushed Iraq to reduce its reliance on Iranian gas. Iraq continues to flare some of the gas extracted alongside crude oil because it lacks the facilities to process it into fuel for local consumption or exports. Also read: ADNOC Gas signs multimillion LNG supply deal with JERA Global Markets Tags Basra Crescent Petroleum Crude Oil Iraq natural gas OPEC You might also like Oil eased ahead of Christmas break on possible future Angola output increase Angola leaves OPEC in blow to oil producer group Oil market comfortably supplied despite OPEC+ cuts: Insight New COP28 draft deal stops short of fossil fuel ‘phase out’