Shell signs HoA with Iraqi government to build petchem complex

LONDON (ICIS)–Shell has signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with the Iraqi government to build a petrochemical complex in the south of the country, a spokesperson for the Anglo-Dutch oil major said on Wednesday.

However, the project is still at a very early stage and Shell is not telling when work to build the complex could start.

“There is no timeline, no further details beyond the fact that the HoA has been signed. That is all. It’s one stage in a long process,” said the spokesperson.

Despite media reports saying investment in the project would be around $11bn, the spokesperson did not know where “that figure has come from” and said Shell does not put specific figures on individual projects at such an early stage.

The spokesperson denied that the new project in Iraq had any relation with the abandoned Al Karaana project with Qatar Petroleum for a petrochemical complex in that country, given that Shell “makes decisions based on individual projects and the overall environments.”

The wait for Shell to build this complex in Iraq has been long. In June 2014, Hans Nijkamp, Shell Iraq’s vice president and country chairman, said the company was just waiting for the Iraqi government to sign the HoA.