The Iraqi cabinet has approved a deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Japan's Mitsubishi to capture gas being flared at southern oilfields, Reuters has reported. The deal is for a venture in the Basra region to capture and use gas currently being burned off at southern oilfields of Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna Phase One, he said. A government spokesperson said the partners in the deal planned to invest $12bn in the project, of which the Iraqi government will hold 51%, and a target had been set to export 600 million cubic feet of gas per day.