Shell-led Basrah Gas Company (BGC) awarded China’s CPECC a contract this week to construct a 400mn cfd two train gas processing facility at Ar-Ratawi – the key component of its plan to raise gas processing capacity by 40% to 1.4mn cfd by end-2021 (MEES, 22 February). Tasked with capturing associated gas and reducing (and eventually eliminating) gas flaring from Basra’s prolific oil fields, BGC took FID last month on phase-2 of its development plans (MEES, 15 February). For CPECC, a state affiliated services subsidiary of CNPC, the deal marks yet another Chinese incursion into Iraq’s oil and gas sector (MEES, 18 May 2018).