US-based GE subsidiary Baker Hughes has signed a contract with the Iraq government for work on its planned natural gas liquids (NGL) plant, which is due to process associated gas from the Nassiriya and Gharraf oil fields.

The contract was signed on 2 April, according to Iraq's Oil Ministry.

In a July 2017 statement, GE said Baker Hughes would “develop advanced solutions for flare gas at the Nassiriya and Al-Gharraf oil fields, using modular gas processing technology developed in the US, with the project to be undertaken in two stages.

“In the first stage, the advanced modular gas processing solution will be deployed to dehydrate and compress flare gas to generate over 100 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas.

“The Nassiriya plant will then be expanded to a complete NGL facility to recover 200 million cf/d of dry gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate.”

The plan is part of Iraq’s ongoing effort to reduce and then stop all flaring of associated gas by 2021.

Gas flaring results in nearly $2.5bn of lost revenue for the government and if used efficiently would be sufficient to meet most gas-based power generation needs, according to the World Bank.