Azerbaijan , Baku, Oct. 4 / Trend A. Tagiyeva /
Iraq will sign an agreement with Korean company KOGAS to develop gas deposits on October 15, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Energy Assem Jihad told Trend on Monday.
"The Iraqi government decided to sign an agreement with South Korea's company KOGAS," he said over phone from Baghdad.
He said that KOGAS will develop the Akkas gas field in Anbar province on the border with Syria. Its reserves are estimated at 113.3 billion cubic meters of gas.
The Iraqi government's step aims to increase gas production. It will allow the country to participate in international energy projects, he said .
Iraq and Azerbaijan are considered to be the main gas suppliers in the first phase of the "Nabucco" project implementation. G as to the amount of 8 and 8-10 billion cubic meters is expected to be obtained.
At present , Iraq is involved in the pipeline construction project to supply Iranian gas to Europe. Iraq will use Iranian gas supplied via the export pipeline until it begins extracting gas on its own fields, which will take 5 years.
According to BP, proven gas reserves amounted to 3.17 trillion cubic meters in Iraq in early 2011.
In June, oil ministers of three countries, Iran, Iraq and Syria, signed the agreement to supply Iranian gas to Iraq, Syria, then Lebanon and the Mediterranean coast with the project cost approximately $ 10 billion.
According to the agreement, Iranian gas will be supplied to European countries, especially Greece via the 5,000-kilometer-pipeline laid through the territory of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.