Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The deputy prime minister of energy affairs in Iraq, Mohsen al-Mandalawi, stressed on Monday the need to use TotalEnergies’ successful initiatives to develop oil resources.
Al-Mandalawi’s remarks took place during his meeting with Dania al-Chalabi, TotalEnergies’ representative in Iraq, to discuss approaches to strengthen cooperation and increase investments in the energy industry.
According to the Iraqi official, it is crucial to use the company’s experience in developing oil reserves, boosting the recovery of associated gas, and expanding the development of solar power plants in different Iraqi provinces.
The initiatives are intended to increase the country’s production capacity, diversify its energy sources, and promote sustainable growth, according to a statement cited by the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA).
Al-Chalabi oversees TotalEnergies’ operations in Iraq, with a specific focus on the $27 billion Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP) located in the Artawi field of Basra province.
The megaproject, which entails significant international alliances, is expected to be operational by the end of 2027, a step that will expand solar energy infrastructure, improve Iraq’s oil industry, and limit gas flaring.
TotalEnergies is constructing a central processing facility designed to capture and treat flared associated gas, with a capacity to handle 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. This facility will collect associated gas from major oil fields in southern Iraq, including Aratawi, Majnoon, and West Qurna-2.
As part of the GGIP, the French firm is increasing the output capacity of the Artawi oil field to 120,000 barrels per day by upgrading the existing infrastructure in the first phase of an expansion project. Following the completion of a new central processing plant, the second phase will further boost production capacity by an additional 210,000 barrels per day.
The megaproject includes a massive seawater desalination and transmission network able to treat and transport five million barrels of seawater per day from the Arabian Gulf.
The use of limited freshwater from rivers and marshes is entirely replaced by the treated water, which is pumped into near reservoirs to sustain the subterranean pressure required for oil extraction.
TotalEnergies’ initiative in Iraq also includes constructing a massive one-gigawatt solar farm in Basra. The large-scale project will provide approximately 350,000 homes with electricity generated from renewable energy.
