Reuters cited Mr Qassim al Fahdawi governor of Anbar province as saying that UAE firms Dana Gas and Crescent Oil are looking to build a gas city in Iraq's western province of Anbar that they hope would draw USD 60 billion in investment.

The gas could come from the province's Akkas gas field, which Mr Al Fahdawi said that Dana and Crescent were also keen to develop with the central Oil Ministry. The plan would use gas Baghdad has previously identified for possible export to the Nabucco pipeline or for export to Syria in order to feed power generation plants as well as petrochemical and fertilizer factories.

Mr Fahdawi said that Dana and Crescent had estimated an investment of USD 8 billion for the development of the Akkas Field and added a South Korean firm had also put in an offer to develop the city. He was in Istanbul last week to meet potential investors over the 2.1 trillion cubic meter reserve Akkas Field and the gas city model.

A Crescent spokesman said that the company had submitted a formal proposal for the project which it said it had been discussing with the province. Dana and Crescent which have contracts with the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq may have difficulty getting the nod for the project from Baghdad. The oil ministry deems deals done by the largely autonomous Kurdish region with foreign firms as illegal.

(Sourced from Reuters)