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Global engineering companies Siemens and General Electric (GE) have signed preliminary agreements with the Iraqi government to support the reconstruction of the domestic power supply system. GE will build around 14 GW of new power generation capacity, while Siemens will build 11 GW. Once deployed, these new capacities could help the Iraqi government to realize savings and recover losses of up to US$3bn/year. The utility sector is viewed as the top priority in the country’s reconstruction plans, which is expected to cost around U$150bn.

Iraq’s electricity grid is currently unable to meet the local demand and residential customers are facing rolling blackouts. The two companies and the government will prepare future contracts on the basis of the MoUs to help solving the domestic power crisis. According to GE, the financing for the projects could be secured by international credit agencies and financial institutions. GE currently plans to bring the first additional capacities (1.5 GW at existing power plant sites) online by the summer 2019.

The European Commission (EC) has approved a €200m support scheme to support electricity production from renewable sources for self-consumption in France until 2020. The measure is in line with the EU State aid rules and is slated to further the European Union’s energy objectives without distorting competition.

The Oil Ministry of Iraq has unveiled plans to produce 7 mb/d of crude oil in 2019 through its newly established National Oil Company, of which approximately 4 mb/d would be exported. Besides, the Ministry also reversed a previous decision to transfer the ownership of nine state-run oil and gas companies directly from the Ministry to the newly-established National Oil Company.

Russian state-run oil and gas company Gazprom will start production drilling at the Kovyktinskoye gas field in the Irkutsk Oblast (Russia) in 2019. The field is moving from the development stage to full-scale production and will be the flagship asset of the Irkutsk gas production center.

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) partners have begun construction works for the 105 km long offshore part of the natural gas pipeline in Albania. TAP plans to carry out the physical offshore pipeline installation works in 2019.

The European Investment Bank will lend €60m to support Slovakia’s main gas distribution company SPP-distribúcia. The funds will help the company upgrade its existing gas distribution network, which entails in particular the replacement and refurbishment of old metal pipelines and surface infrastructure to increase network safety and improve service reliability.

A consortium including the oil and gas services provider Petrofac and the engineering companies Saipem and Samsung has been awarded a US$4bn contract by the Thailand state-run company Thai Oil for its Sriracha refinery expansion project.