Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein Al-Sharistani Friday began talks that could see the tiny but influential gas-rich emirate of Qatar invest in gas developments there, a further sign that increasing stability in the war-torn country is igniting the interest of overseas investors.
As Iraq officials sat down this week with major oil companies eager to develop oil fields in the wake of the conflict there, the country's oil minister Hussein Al-Sharistani met Friday with Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah in a bid to attract the gas expertise that the Persian Gulf country boasts.
"I have met with his excellency the Iraqi oil minister. I listened to some suggestions. We will study them and we will develop them in the future," Al Attiyah told Dow Jones Newswires after the pair met following an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Austria's capital.
"We welcome any idea the Iraqis are suggesting to us. We are ready to cooperate with our Iraqi brothers," he added, though he gave no details.
An Iraq official confirmed the meeting took place but wouldn't supply details of the discussions.
Qatar, with the third largest gas reserves in the world, is a leading generator of technology-driven gas projects, boasting huge liquefied natural terminals and, with Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN), the world's largest project to turn gas into low-emissions fuels such as diesel and jet fuel.
Separately, an Iraq official told Dow Jones Newswires Friday that the LNG project in the south of the country that Shell is interested in has a price tag of $5 billion and its feedstock will be associated gas that accompanies oil production from local oil fields.
Speaking in Brussels Thursday, Al-Sharistani said Shell had proposed a gas facility in the south of Iraq, as part of its gas master plan for southern Iraq that could "provide a significant amount of gas for Europe."
Shell, he added, "has made proposals to Iraq for gathering gas and building a facility to supply local markets and export additional gas in the form of LNG through the southern ports or through a pipeline."
At an earning press conference call, Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer said: "Yes, it is correct we have made various proposals," though he declined to comment on whether LNG was among the ideas.
A Shell spokesman said Friday: "We have worked closely with the Iraqi authorities on a gas master plan which will help identify ways of utilizing Iraqi gas that is currently flared into the atmosphere. The concept we have been discussing could see that flared gas used to help generate much-needed domestic power in Iraq, thereby reducing environmental damage."
About 600 million cubic feet of associated gas is being flared each day from oil fields in Southern Iraq, a person familiar with the details said.