Production from Khor Mor, Iraq’s largest non-associated gasfield, has reached 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), its operators have said.
The Khor Mor plant, in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), hit daily production of 525 million standard cubic feet of natural gas in early March, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum said in a joint statement on Thursday.
Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum have a 35 per cent stake each in the Pearl Petroleum consortium, the operator of Khor Mor.
An expansion project, aimed at boosting production at Khor Mor by a further 50 per cent, will now be completed in the first quarter of 2026 instead of the second quarter, the companies said.
The project, estimated to cost $1 billion, was originally scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2024.
“Progress … has advanced in recent months through fast-track simultaneous project construction and commissioning activities, enabling the company to cut the overall project schedule by several months,” the companies said.
The Khor Mor plant provides the fuel for about 75 per cent of the KRI’s electricity generation.
“The KM-250 completion which we are now confident of accelerating to take place in Q1 2026 will transform our business, enabling the next major phase of expansion,” said Richard Hall, chief executive of Dana Gas.
Pearl Petroleum partners will invest $160 million to develop the Chemchemal field, aiming to start producing up to 71 million standard cubic feet of gas per day in 2026. The plan includes drilling three wells, setting up a testing facility and building supporting infrastructure.
Iraq, Opec’s second-largest producer, is looking to boost domestic output of natural gas to support power generation and reduce reliance on imports from countries such as Iran.
Most of Iraq's gas is associated with its large southern oilfields, while independent gasfields such as Akkas in the west and Mansouriya in the east remain largely undeveloped. Similarly, although the KRI has many gasfields, most are still untapped.
KRI holds more than 25 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, accounting for about 20 per cent of Iraq’s total.
Set up in 2005, Dana Gas has exploration and production assets in Egypt, the Iraqi Kurdish region and the UAE, with proven reserves exceeding one billion barrels of oil equivalent and average production of about 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day last year.
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
SPECS
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The%20Specs%20
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
