The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract awards for three gas plants in Iraq are scheduled for mid-2018, according to the country’s Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi.

These included Korea Gas Corporation's (Kogas’) Nasiriya Gas Treatment Plant, which is estimated to be worth $200m and will have a capacity of 400 million standard cubic feet a-day (scf/d).

The other two plants are the Basrah Gas Company’s Ar Ratawi Gas Processing Plant, which will have a capacity of 500 million scf/d, and a planned facility in the province of Maysan, which will have a capacity of 400 million scf/d.

UK engineering company Petrofac was awarded the front-end engineering design (feed) contract for the Nasiriya facility last year.

The feed contract for the Ar Ratawi Gas Processing Plant, which is due to be built in the province of Basrah, is being carried out by SNC Lavalin. The project has an estimated value of $500m.

The client for the Maysan facility is a consortium of PetroChina, Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company, Malaysia’s Petronas and France’s Total.

It is estimated to be worth $500m and the project has been recently revived after being put on hold in 2016.

Speaking at Chatham House on Monday Al-Luaibi said investment in these projects was part of a broader programme of investment in the oil and gas sector worth $20bn.

Iraq is wrestling with enormous budget problems and has a track record of delays for projects of this kind.