(Yicai Global) April 6 -- Shares in China CAMC Engineering advanced as much as 4.4 percent today after the Chinese engineering contractor said that a consortium it heads has landed a USD412 million contract to build a natural gas processing facility in southern Iraq, its second undertaking at the same oilfield since the beginning of the year.

CMAC Engineering’s stock price [SHE:002051] was trading up 2.2 percent at CNY8.35 (USD1.31) as of 2 p.m. China time today. Earlier in the day it had hit CNY8.53.

A consortium, in which CAMC Engineering holds a 97 percent stake and offshore oil giant China National Offshore Oil Corporation the rest, will serve as general contractor for a central natural gas processing facility plus ancillary systems with a daily capacity of 3.6 million cubic meters in southern Basra province, CAMC Engineering said today.

CAMC Engineering is responsible for the construction while CNOOC will provide technical support, the Beijing-based company said, citing the contract signed on April 4 with Kuwait Energy Basra, a unit of Hong Kong-based United Energy Group. The plant should be up and running within 30 months of starting construction.

In late January, the same consortium, but this time with CMAC Engineering holding a 93 percent stake and CNOOC the remainder, penned at USD594 million deal with Kuwait Energy Basra to build a central crude oil processing factory and ancillary facilities with a daily capacity of 100,000 barrels in the same oilfield, which covers an area of 865 square kilometers in the north of the province.

The total value of the contract is equal to 30.2 percent of CAMC Engineering’s revenue in 2021, it said. The deal will have a positive impact on the firm’s operations over the next three years. It will also help expand the company's share of the global engineering construction market and consolidate its position in the construction of petrochemical projects.

Kuwait Energy Basra provides oilfield exploration and development as well as oil production services to a number of companies in Basra including Iraq’s state-owned Basra Oil.

Editor: Kim Taylor