British company Petrofrac lands $70 million contract in Iraq

April 25 (UPI) -- British energy company Petrofac said Tuesday it scored a multimillion-dollar contract in part to help Iraq expand port facilities for the Persian Gulf.

"Over the coming months we will focus on effective deployment of our operations, engineering and projects' activities across the contracts to enable our clients to unlock maximum value from their oil and gas assets," Petrofac's regional managing director, Mani Rajapathy, said in a statement.

The British company in December secured a $75 million contract to help with the expansion of a crude oil export facility at a southern Iraqi port at Basra. The Iraqi government is developing the southern export expansion project with the goal of expanding exports capacity from offshore facilities by 150 percent.

Petrofrac's latest $70 million contract awards span the first quarter and include deals with the South Oil Co. of Iraq and two "major international oil companies." The scope of new arrangements with the Iraqi oil company expands on a six-year agreement to provide support for the offshore international crude oil export expansion production facility in the country's south.

The company's announcement follows a declaration of new investment opportunities for refineries in Basra. The oil ministry said it was envisioning a regional complex with a capacity of around 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

Economists at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Iraq is a member, said domestic demand for oil was experiencing a sharp increase, up 21 percent year-over-year to 130,000 barrels per day in February.

Iraq offered no direct production figures to OPEC in March. The country is party to a multilateral deal to curb production and secondary sources told OPEC that Iraq produced 4.4 million barrels per day last month, down 8,500 barrels per day from the previous month.