Quick Facts
- Crescent Petroleum and its affiliate Dana Gas signed agreements in April 2007 with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq for the development of its substantial gas resources, including the launch of the Kurdistan Gas City.
- Agreements included the development, processing, and transportation of natural gas from the Khor Mor and Chemchemal gas fields, in order to provide natural gas supplies to fuel domestic electric power generation plants near Erbil and Suleymania.
- Gas deliveries to the Erbil Power Station commenced on 1 October 2008 via the 180 kilometres pipeline within a record period of 15 months.
In May 2009, Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas entered into strategic partnership agreements with OMV and MOL for the joint development of the Khor Mor and Chemchemal Gas Fields. OMV, Austria’s largest listed industrial company, MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Company, Hungary’s largest listed company, are two of Europe’s most dynamic integrated oil & gas companies and the original architects of the Nabucco gas pipeline project. OMV and MOL each acquired a 10% equity interest in Pearl Petroleum Company Limited, the Company which holds Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas’ interests in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Further, in 2015, RWE, a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen and listed in Frankfurt, acquired a 10% equity in Pearl Petroleum Company Limited.
The first stage of the Khor Mor Field development involving the hook up, testing and re-commissioning of existing gas wells, acquiring 2D seismic, installing gas separation and treatment facilities and installation of 180kms of pipeline was completed in a record time of 15 months and first gas deliveries to Erbil commenced in October 2008. The gas is pumped via the 180km pipeline to two power plants in Erbil and Suleymania. The pipeline passes close to other gas fields and will have spare capacity to transport additional volumes of gas at a later stage. The second stage involved the installation of a 2-train liquid petroleum gas (LPG) plant, which was completed in 2011. The ultimate gas production capacity of the LPG Plant reached 300Mmscfdl.
In the ensuing 15 years, the gas project has delivered uninterrupted, affordable energy at scale to the KRI, making a considerable impact on the region’s economy, society, and environment. Capital investment in the project’s infrastructure and day-to-day operations has sustained significant economic activity in the KRI. Ultimately, the project’s most significant economic contribution, by far, is the gas provided to fuel the KRI’s electricity grid.
In 2018, Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas celebrated the tenth anniversary of production operations and in 2019 signed a 20-year Gas Sales Agreement with the KRG to enable production and sales of an additional 250 MMSCF/day to boost local electricity generation, significantly expanding current production (“KM250 project”).
Subsequently in January 2020, a major oil and gas services provider was appointed to lead the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the first two new gas processing trains at the plant, which together will more than double production capacity, with further plans for a third train to be added within several years. Major works on the project were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed in April 2021.
Work on the KM 250 onsite EPC contract activities was temporarily suspended in June following rocket attacks in the area of the construction site and plant and a state of force majeure was declared. Subsequent to year end, following enhancement of the security arrangements, the EPC contractor and its subcontractors have started to remobilize to site and construction activities are now underway.
Production, drilling operations and non-EPC contract activities continued throughout this period as normal.
Crescent Petroleum reported record sales gas production in 2022 reaching 470 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMscf/d), the culmination of numerous process improvements at the Khor Mor plant.
Current production is approximately 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BoE) per day, comprising gas, condensate, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). At the end of 2022, gas comprised approximately 75% of total production from the Khor Mor plant. Total production since inception in 2007 to the end of 2022 is approximately 400 million Barrels of Oil equivalent, with total capital investment amounting to $2.6 billion.
