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China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) has emerged as the frontrunner to win the estimated $1.7bn contract to build a gas processing complex at the Ratawi oil and gas field development in Iraq’s Basra region.

The Ratawi gas processing complex is one of four projects constituting Iraq’s $10bn Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), which is being developed by French energy major TotalEnergies and its partners. TotalEnergies is the main operator of the GGIP scheme. Basra Oil Company (30%) and QatarEnergy (25%) are the other stakeholders.

MEED previously reported that contractors submitted bids for the Ratawi gas processing complex project in October last year.

In addition to CPECC, the other bidders for the project are India’s Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon and South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & Construction, sources told MEED.

When commissioned, the planned facility is expected to process 300 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas. Its capacity is expected to double when a second expansion phase becomes operational in the future.

The Ratawi gas processing facility project aims to improve Iraq’s electricity supply by capturing gas that would have otherwise been flared at several oil fields, including:

• Luhais
• Majnoon
• Ratawi
• West Qurna 2
• Tuba

Large gas volumes are flared from these oil fields, causing significant environmental damage. Collecting and processing flared gas will generate increased hydrocarbons revenues and reduce ecological damage.

The gas tapped and processed from the oil fields will then be used to supply power plants, helping to reduce Iraq’s power import bill.

As well as supplying to Iraq’s national gas network to generate electricity, the Ratawi gas processing complex will increase the production of gas products, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensates.

US-based consultant KBR has performed the front-end engineering and design work on the project.

GGIP projects

TotalEnergies and its partners have made considerable progress with projects for the GGIP scheme, which was formalised between the Iraqi government and investors in September 2021.

The French energy major announced earlier in January that construction of a smaller-scale gas processing plant at the Ratawi field, ArtawiGas25, had started.

This project represents an investment of about $250m, TotalEnergies said, adding that the plant will process 50 million cf/d of gas from previously flared gas at the Ratawi field.

The gas will supply local power plants, meeting the demand of approximately 200,000 households in the Basra region.

The ArtawiGas25 project will be commissioned by the end of this year, and will begin reducing gas flaring before the larger gas processing complex at Ratawi enters operations.

“The innovative modular design of ArtawiGas25 could also pave the way for potential replication across other Iraqi oil fields,” TotalEenrgies said.

ArtawiGas25 will create up to 160 direct and indirect jobs for Iraqi nationals during the construction phase and 30 jobs during the operation phase, the French energy major added.

The other two projects within the GGIP programme are:

• Common seawater supply project (CSSP)
• 1GW solar power project for Iraq’s electricity ministry

TotalEnergies is expanding its activities in Iraq at a time when other international oil companies are reducing their exposure to the country.

In an interview with MEED in October, Cecile Ballantyne Jovene, the head of TotalEnergies’ strategy department for gas, power and renewables, stated that expansion in Iraq is pivotal to the company’s global energy business growth strategy.