Iraq has decided to award one of its largest gas field to a Ukrainian company as it is pushing ahead with plans to develop its largely untapped natural gas resources, an Oil Ministry official was quoted on Monday as saying.

Bassim Khudair, the Ministry’s Undersecretary for Oil Extraction, said the contract involves development of Akkas field in the Western Alanbar Governorate to boost production to 400 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d).

“The Ministry will in the next few days award a contract to develop Akkas gas field to a Ukrainian company,” Khudair told Iraq’s Alforat News agency.

Officials said last month two firms from Ukraine and Armenia were vying for the Akkas contract, one of several gas field development projects announced by Iraq over the past months to exploit its massive non-associated natural gas.

The officials did not name the two companies but said the field would be a major source for gas needed to run power facilities in Iraq, which heavily relies on Iranian gas.

Discovered in 1992, Akkas field contains around 5.6 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas deposits, according to Iraqi estimates.

The field was abandoned by South Korea’s state-owned Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas) after it was captured by ISIS militias during the war eight years ago.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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