Iraq’s Council of Ministers has approved two major energy contracts that form part of the $10bn Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.

French oil and gas company TotalEnergies and its partners are developing the GGIP.

TotalEnergies is the main operator of the GGIP. Basra Oil Company (30%) and QatarEnergy (25%) are the other stakeholders.

One of the two awarded contracts is focused on the development of the Ratawi gas field and the other is focused on the Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP), which will transport seawater to oil fields for injection to increase production.

The statement said that Iraq's Council of Ministers had approved the award of tender CSSP-ITT-06 from state-owned Basra Oil Company to China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPP).

The contract awarded to CPP is for the pipeline package, which involves the construction of a seawater pipeline.

MEED reported that CPP was a frontrunner to win the pipeline package in May last year.

CPP is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation and the primary builder of pipelines in its home country.

The pipeline package is one of two major packages in the CSSP. The other major package focuses on developing a water processing facility.

The pipeline contract awarded to CPP will be executed over 54 months, including 42 months for engineering, procurement and construction and 12 months for operation, maintenance and training.

The second contract that has been approved is for a planned gas processing plant at the Ratawi gas processing complex project.

The Ratawi field is also sometimes called the Artawi field.

This contract has been awarded by Iraq’s state-owned South Gas Company to China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC).

In January, MEED revealed that CPECC had emerged as the frontrunner to win the contract, which is estimated to be worth about $1.7bn.

When commissioned, the planned facility is expected to process 300 million cubic feet a day 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 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.