Iraq's cabinet has approved $1.7 billion in contracts with Samsung Engineering and Hyundai Heavy Industries involving oilfield and power plant projects.

It approved a $894.5 million contract for Samsung Engineering to handle engineering, procurement and construction work on a degassing station in the Zubair oilfield, said Abdul-Ilah Qasim, an energy adviser to the Iraqi government.

The deal will require final approval by the oil ministry before the contract is formally awarded, Qasim said.

Another contract valued at $818 million was approved for Hyundai Heavy to build a 230-megawatt power plant in the town of Yousifiya south of Baghdad, said Musab al-Mudarres, an Electricity Ministry spokesman.

Total power supply, currently at 12,000 MW, is expected to reach 16,000 MW in three months and 18,600 MW by the end of 2014, the ministry spokesman said.

"The ministry has ambitious plans to reach levels of power generation that exceed domestic demand, but the insistence of people to waste power is still an issue," Mudarres said.

Iraq is trying to ramp up power production as it rebuilds after years of war and international sanctions.
Intermittent power is a chief complaint among Iraqis and demand far exceeds supply. - Reuters