Q&A: Basra Gas Company Deputy Director Marfaa Kadhim al-Asadi

Marfaa Kadhim al-Asadi, deputy director of the Basra Gas Company. Photo courtesy of Basra Gas Company.

BASRA - The Basra Gas Company (BGC) is now operating with four times more processing capacity than when the joint venture was formed in 2013, capturing half of Iraq’s still massive burning of associated gas.

There is a five-year expansion plan currently underway that will boost capacity by another 400 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) once two new units are added and new compressors installed at some of the country’s largest producing fields.

Those fields – BP-operated Rumaila, ExxonMobil-operated West Qurna 1, and Eni-operated Zubair – are themselves slated to more than double oil output of oil production in the coming years, which in turn will produce more gas that will be either utilized for power and industry or flared.

Marfaa Kadhim al-Asadi, deputy director of BGC, a joint venture between Iraqi state-run South Gas Company, Shell, and Mitsubishi formed to capture and monetize the environmentally harmful flaring, told Iraq Oil Report that recurring government payment problems have ended and the company is focused on its growth.

BGC is open to taking on associated gas from more than the three fields it was contracted for, Asadi said, and is willing to step in if the massive deal with TotalEnergies falls through, though he said those are all decisions for the Iraqi government to make.

A full transcript of the interview is available below for subscribers.