Iraq’s plans to develop the 5.6tcf (gas in place) Akkas field in the western province of Anbar are in motion with oil minister Ihsan Ismaael revealing that US oilfield services firm Halliburton is now closer to signing a drilling contract.

The comments made in an interview with local Al Forat TV channel on 15 April follow similar ones made in February on the sidelines of the GECF summit in Doha (MEES, 25 February). Akkas would be Iraq’s first large ‘free’ (non-associated) gas development – at the moment the only such producing field is Siba, operated by China’s UEG on the Iran border in southern Basra province, and even here two-thirds of 2021’s 20,000 boe/d output was liquids (MEES, 22 April). (CONTINUED - 585 WORDS)