A UAE E&P player boosting gas production in Iraq

UAE

Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum, talks to The Energy Year about the growing share of natural gas within the company’s energy portfolio and investing towards important expansion projects in Iraq and Egypt. Crescent Petroleum is an independent upstream oil and gas company headquartered in the UAE and with operations in various countries in the Middle East.

This interview is featured in The Energy Year UAE 2025

Can you provide an overview of Crescent Petroleum’s footprint in the Middle East?
Crescent Petroleum is proud to be the oldest and largest private-sector oil and gas company in the Middle East. Our journey began in the UAE, specifically in the Emirate of Sharjah, with offshore oil exploration and production in the Mubarak field for 40 years. Over the decades, two major transformations have shaped our growth: international expansion and a strategic shift in the energy mix.
While we once had a widespread global presence, we later honed our focus on the Middle East, with Iraq emerging as our key market. In Egypt, we operate through our publicly listed affiliate, Dana Gas. Our energy portfolio has evolved from being 100% oil to being more than 80% natural gas.
We have been pioneers in the region’s gas business, leading the first cross-border gas agreements between Sharjah and Dubai in the 1980s. Our emphasis on natural gas and its integration with downstream industries and the power sector mirrors the private sector’s growing role in gas across the region and worldwide.
Our UAE headquarters remains central to our success, as it benefits from the country’s strategic location, cultural richness and emphasis on ambition and excellence along with diversity and tolerance. This diversity is reflected in our workforce, and our executive committee brings together a wide range of nationalities and professional backgrounds.

What are some key projects the company has participated in recently?
The Khor Mor 250 expansion project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is a key initiative currently under implementation and targeted for startup early next year. However, we are pushing on all fronts to complete it ahead of schedule. This project aims to increase our production in the Kurdistan Region by 50%, making it not only a significant milestone for our company but also a critical development for the local economy and the needs of the population.
The project aligns with the goal of achieving an uninterrupted supply of electricity in Iraq, which is a key socioeconomic priority for the country, and has received strong international backing. The US International Development Finance Corporation has provided USD 250 million in funding. The project is a USD 850-million investment that will add 7 mcm (250 mcf) per day of gas production, as well as 500 tonnes of LPG and 7,000 boepd of condensate.
We have also signed agreements with the federal government for new blocks in Iraq, specifically in the Diyala Governorate, where the Khashim Ahmer-Injana and Gilabat-Qumar fields contain both oil and gas. In southern Iraq, near the Kuwaiti border, we are developing another exploration area that has yielded discoveries in the past. Our prior work in the region gives us good technical insights into its potential.
The Diyala concessions are particularly promising, as their geology closely mirrors the formations we already produce from in the Kurdistan Region. Detailed appraisals are under way, and we anticipate gas reserves in the trillions of cubic feet. Iraq remains vastly underexplored and underdeveloped relative to its immense potential, and these projects are strategically important for the country’s energy future.

How is Crescent Petroleum progressing on its sustainability goals?
Instead of making a broad pledge for the future, we took a multi-year approach to measuring and reducing emissions and leakages to bring them down to zero or as close as possible. This strategy is not just about environmental responsibility – it also creates value by capturing gas that can be sold. We sell natural gas to the governments of Iraq and Egypt, so the environmental challenge is also an opportunity.
Any remaining emissions we offset using UN-certified carbon credits that support wind power projects in China and Mongolia, where they replace coal generation and contribute to a cleaner energy mix. Through this approach, we achieved carbon neutrality across our operations in late 2021 – we were the first company in the Middle East to do so – and have sustained it since then.
Beyond the emissions reduction we achieve in our operations, it is important to highlight the positive impact of the natural gas we produce. By displacing diesel in power generation in Iraq we avoid more than 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere each year, and this figure will grow as we expand production.
There is a misguided perception that lumps natural gas together with coal and oil as equally harmful fossil fuels, and it has led to underinvestment in natural gas worldwide, inadvertently increasing coal usage and global emissions. The reality is that no energy source is completely clean. The only truly clean alternative is to reduce consumption, but a practical solution lies in balanced energy packages that pair renewables with natural gas and nuclear power, which is precisely the UAE’s energy strategy for 2050 – a forward-thinking, strategic and rational approach.
Other countries can look to the UAE as a model for long-term energy planning that integrates energy security, equity and sustainability – what is referred to as the energy trilemma. Many global policies have failed to balance these three priorities, leading to energy crises in Europe, soaring prices and energy poverty in the developing world. As a company, we ensure that our outlook encompasses all three pillars.

What role do AI and digitalisation play in Crescent Petroleum’s growth strategy?
Generative AI is now a fundamental tool in multiple areas, including legal, operations, HR, finance and supply chain management, but we are going beyond these standard applications and implementing AI-driven advancements across our operations. We are exploring software developed by C3.ai for predictive analytics for our plant equipment. AI is also accelerating our field development planning, and we are reducing timelines from months to weeks.
The digitisation of our industry is transforming the way we work. For example, we are utilising digital twins for simulations at the Khor Mor plant, and the way we conduct seismic exploration is also changing. Instead of traditional wired seismic surveys, we are adopting nodal seismic technology that makes the process faster and cheaper, and we are using AI for seismic data interpretation and obtaining faster and more precise results.
That said, human experience remains irreplaceable. Just like in medicine, AI in our industry is a powerful enabler that enhances human skills rather than replacing them. By reducing timelines and costs, AI will increase efficiency and productivity and contribute to human prosperity by unlocking new opportunities.

What are your goals and expectations for the next five years?
We will continue to play our role as a private-sector company, operating regionally while being headquartered in the UAE. Our focus will remain on expanding and developing our gas reserves and bringing them into production while we develop oil resources in parallel. We are exploring opportunities in new markets that offer potential for cross-border trade.
The Crescent Group has operations that extend into port management, logistics, venture capital and private equity investments. This diverse portfolio provides resources to adapt and expand within an evolving global energy landscape. The outlook for our industry and the UAE is extremely promising.
The UAE’s relationships with the West are strong and expanding, while ties with India, China and South Korea in the East are also growing. Positioned strategically among global markets and with a strong economic focus, the UAE can play a leading role in energy, facilitate trade and investment, and drive innovation in key sectors.

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• Kurdistan Region of Iraq
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