Iraq initials Shell’s $12.5bn gas project - FT.com

Royal Dutch Shell’s long-standing plan to capture and refine gas in south Iraq has moved a step closer following the approval by the country’s state-owned gas company.

In a statement the Anglo-Dutch energy company, which would own 44 per cent of the venture, confirmed that the project had been “initialised” by Iraq’s South Gas Company, which owns a 51 per cent stake, and by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, which has 5 per cent. The $12.5bn investment project now has to be approved by Iraq’s cabinet.

The joint-venture, named the Basrah Gas Company, would collect and process raw gas from Iraq’s southern Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna 1 oilfields which are currently being flared.

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