Basrah Gas Company eyes 40% higher capacity on lower gas flaring

Mubasher: Basrah Gas Company (BGC) is looking to bolster its growth programme, which in turn would increase capacity by 40%. This will be done by reducing gas flaring which negatively impacts the environment.

The announcement made by Shell Iraq included a final investment decision (FID), which was originally taken on 31 January 2019, with support from all shareholders in the BGC Joint Venture: South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi.

“The programme will capture flared gas from the three major oilfields Rumaila, West Qurna 1 and Zubair and convert it into dry gas for power generation and liquids for the domestic market and for exports,” Shell Iraq explained.

The Basrah Natural Gas Liquids (Basrah NGL) project, located within in the new development, will include a 400 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) greenfield gas processing plant at Ar Ratawi, equipped with two trains, each having a gas processing capacity of 200 mmscf/d.

In addition to being a heavy environmental burden as it increases greenhouse gas emissions, gas flaring is considered a waste of Iraq’s natural resources as it makes the country suffer from inadequate supplies of fuel and power.

By capturing flared gas, the BGC growth programme will help address these issues, mitigate waste, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

BGC’s growth programme will also enable a “step-change to more, higher-margin refrigerated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exports from the refurbished and expanded storage and marine terminal at Um Qasr port in Basrah,” Shell Iraq stated.

Commenting on the BGC’s scheme, Shell Iraq vice president Marcus Antonini said that following BGC’s achievement of a new production level of over 1 bcf/d, his company was proud to have reached this milestone “with an industry-leading competitive project which can reduce gas flaring from the three Basrah oil fields.”

This would further allow the increase in the supply of dry gas and NGL export capabilities, Antonini went on, indicating that such developments would bring “significant and widespread societal benefit” to the Basrah region in terms of environment and jobs, as well as security of energy supply.

Mubasher Contribution Time: 13-Feb-2019 13:38 (GMT)
Mubasher Last Update Time: 13-Feb-2019 13:39 (GMT)