By: AGBI

US oilfield services company Baker Hughes has signed an agreement with Iraq-based Halfaya Gas Company to develop a system for the recovery of flare gas at the Bin Umar plant in southeastern Iraq.

The deal follows a memorandum of understanding signed in April 2024. The project will significantly reduce upstream flaring and transform waste emissions from the gas processing plant into valuable products, Baker Hughes said in a statement.

The facility is expected to recover up to 300 standard cubic feet per day of flared gas, which can generate 32 billion kilowatt-hours annually, equivalent to the electricity use of nearly two million Iraqi homes.

The recovered gas will be converted into treated dry gas, liquefied petroleum gas and condensate for domestic use and export.

No financial details were disclosed.

The two companies have also agreed to collaborate on the development of upstream oilfields in Iraq, the statement said.

The Bin Umar project is being developed by Halfaya Gas under a 15-year BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) contract with South Gas Company, a subsidiary of the Iraqi oil ministry.

In January a consortium comprising state-owned QatarEnergy began constructing the first processing facility for the associated gas from the Ratawi field in Iraq’s Basra region.

That facility will be developed with an investment of $250 million and process 50 million cubic feet per day of gas previously flared.

UK engineering company Wood Group secured decarbonisation contracts worth $100 million in May for flare gas reduction across the largest oilfields in Iraq.

Iraq is preparing to hold parliamentary elections in November.