Strategic water project makes progress, helped by Chinese financing

BASRA - Iraq is drawing on a multi-billion-dollar Chinese financing program to fund the construction of a network of pipelines that could help transform southern Iraq’s oil sector by supplying water needed to boost crude production.

The deal is one major component of the Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP), which in its first phase aims to deliver 5 million barrels per day (bpd) of water to more than a dozen fields in Basra, Missan, and Dhi Qar provinces. The other major component of CSSP — which includes seawater intake and treatment facilities — is also progressing under the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP) consortium led by France’s TotalEnergies.