Iraq’s cabinet on 25 April approved a $320mn contract awarded to a consortium comprised of Italian firm PEG and the oil ministry’s engineering subsidiary State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP) to deliver the second phase of a gas dehydration plant at Dhi Qar province’s 250,000 b/d capacity Gharaf oil field. Gharaf is operated by Malaysian state firm Petronas and the plant’s first phase is designed to process 110mn cfd.

PEG and SCOP are also jointly delivering a 76km, 20-inch gas pipeline linking the field to a 200mn cfd gas processing facility being constructed by Baker Hughes and to the southern gas grid. The pipeline is slated for completion this year. (CONTINUED - 134 WORDS)