Iraq is furious at Shell
Rania El Gamal, Osamu Tsukimori, Dmitry ZhdannikovDUBAI/TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) – Iraq has hired Japan’s Toyo Engineering (6330.T) to help build a gas pipeline to Kuwait and a related petrochemical plant as Baghdad looks to reduce flaring and finish paying reparations owed for its 1990 invasion of its neighbor.
The project, details of which have not been reported before, would allow Kuwait to diversify its gas imports in the wake a political crisis between Gulf states and major supplier Qatar.
It would also deal a blow to Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), which aimed to be the dominant gas player in Iraq before relations with Baghdad soured following Shell’s exit from large oil projects.