The Iraqi Oil Ministry announced that it would launch a gas investment project in the Nasiriyah and al-Gharraf fields with the US company Rico Hughes in Dhi Qar in southern Iraq. The Oil Ministry stated that the project has a capacity of 200 million standard cubic feet per day, explaining that this project is one of Iraqs most significant strategic projects in the gas investment sector associated with crude oil. Over the past months, Iraq has embarked on implementing giant gas investment projects with Chinese companies and Frances Total to achieve record levels of gas production to meet the requirements of operating power plants. Iraq aspires to launch new projects for gas investment in the Akkas field in the al-Anbar governorate and Mansouriya in the Diyala governorate. Gas prices rose recently due to seasonal and circumstantial factors, in addition to an increase in oil prices. However, the prices fell on Friday as energy companies in the US Gulf of Mexico region resumed production after two successive hurricanes in the area halted production. Brent crude futures fell 33 cents to settle at $75.34 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 64 cents to settle at $71.97 a barrel. Over the week, Brent increased 3.3 percent, and US crude rose 3.2 percent, supported by tight supplies due to the hurricane outages. The decline on Friday came after five consecutive sessions of rises for Brent crude. On Wednesday, Brent hit its highest level since late July, and US crude hit its highest level since early August. Gulf crude oil exports are flowing again after hurricanes Nicholas and Ida took out 26 million barrels of offshore production. Reuters reported on Thursday that the resumption of activities continued with the suspension of about 28 percent of US Gulf of Mexico crude output. Last week, US energy firms added oil and natural gas rigs for the second week in a row, although the number of offshore units in the Gulf of Mexico remained unchanged after hurricane Ida hit the coast more than two weeks ago. Energy services firm Baker Hughes said 14 offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico had closed two weeks ago due to the continuing shutdown caused by Ida.