- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A pair of Emirati energy companies producing natural gas in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region say they expect to boost the output capacity there by 50 percent within two years.
Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum said Tuesday they are currently able to pump 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, and that the level should rise to 300 million cubic feet daily by 2012.
Current production is used to power two electric plants in the self-ruled Kurdish region.
The companies, based in the Gulf emirate of Sharjah, began producing gas in Iraq two years ago.
They signed an $8 billion deal with Austria’s OMV and Hungary’s MOL last year to export gas from the region.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry has called that deal illegal because it doesn’t carry Baghdad’s approval.