For news regarding the energy sector in Iraq.

Iraq sells $2.1 bln bonds to fund power deals
Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:54pm GMT

BAGHDAD, March 17 (Reuters) - Iraq has raised $2.1 billion from local banks via a reopened one-year treasury bond issue to fund electricity projects, the country's finance minister said on Wednesday.

Iraq issued the second tranche last week after it sold a first tranche worth around $3 billion at the end of last year, Bayan Jabor said.

"We issued the treasury bonds... to fund the electricity ministry," Jabor told reporters.

In 2008, Iraq signed multi-billion dollar deals with General Electric (GE.N) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE) to add nearly 9,000 megawatts of capacity over the next few years.

Iraq has scrambled for ways to finance the purchase after a plunge in oil prices in 2008 deprived it of revenues and forced it to slash its 2009 budget three times.

Local banks bought into the bonds by using cash from their reserve requirements to lend the Finance Ministry, at a rate of 2 percent, Mudher Kasim, a senior central bank adviser said.

"These are treasury bonds but ... they were not auctioned. They are special issuances," Kasim said.

Seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq's national grid still only supplies a few hours of power each day. Intermittent electricity is one most Iraqis' main complaints.

Iraq's current electricity capacity is 7,500 megawatts, far short of the country's requirement of 12,000 megawatts.

(Reporting by Aseel Kami; Editing by Rania El Gamal, John Stonestreet)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE62G1ZB20100317

Iraq Agrees To Renew Oil Link Accord With Turkey

March 17, 2010
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Iraq has agreed with Turkey to renew an accord to operate an oil pipeline from its northern oil fields near Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, a senior Iraqi oil official has said.

"Iraq has approved to renew the Kirkuk-Ceyhan agreement after agreeing on some changes and amendments", Iraq's deputy oil minister, Ahmad al-Shamma, told Reuters.

Shamma said the two sides had agreed on new transit fees and upgrades to the pipeline.

"There is an Iraqi delegation in Turkey now, headed by a deputy oil minister, to finalize the deal."

The agreement is expected to be signed during a trip by Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz to Baghdad, scheduled for March 22, said a Turkish Energy Ministry official who declined to be named.

An agreement between Baghdad and Ankara that governs the operation of the 970-kilometer pipeline, which transports about a quarter of all Iraqi oil exports, expires this month.

Turkish officials said talks with Baghdad on extending the accord began last year.

The deal will include a guarantee from Baghdad on the flow of oil in the pipeline, the Turkish Energy Ministry official said.

Flows are sometimes halted due to maintenance problems or sabotage by Iraqi insurgents and poor security left the link mostly idle between 2003 and 2007 after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The double-pipe link has a capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) but normally carries about 500,000 bpd.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline first opened in 1977.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Iraq_Agrees_To_Renew_Oil_Link_Accord_With_Turkey/1986386.html

History of Oil in Iraq

( History)

Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, denied that oil interests influenced policy in Iraq, but the archives show that the British government rushed troops to Mosul in 1918 to gain control of the northern oil fields. Britain and France clashed over Iraq's oil during the Versailles Conference and after, but Britain eventually took the lion's share by turning its military victories into colonial rule. The powerful Iraq Petroleum Company, in which US and French firms held minority positions, acted always in the cartel interests of the Anglo-American companies. To the fury of the Iraqis and the French, it held down production to maximize profits elswhere. The company kept a monopoly of Iraq's oil sector until nationalization in 1972.

The Early Struggle Over Iraq's Oil

The Byzantine Beginnings: The Quest for Oil (April 25, 2003)

Since the discovery of oil in the Middle East in 1908, western powers have sought dominance over the region's resources. Dr. Ferruh Demirmen examines western influence in Iraq's oil industry, from the creation of the Turkish Petroleum Company in 1911 by the UK, the Netherlands and Germany to the entry of US oil giants after World War I. (Global Policy Forum)

The Byzantine Beginnings: The Reign of a Monopoly (April 26, 2003)

The Turkish Petroleum Company's (TPC) creation by the UK aimed at seeking concessions to explore for Iraqi oil, to eliminate rivalry among TPC's partners and to compete with US oil companies. This paper examines the history of Iraq's oil industry from World War I to 1972 and assesses the "winners and losers" of the Iraq oil game. (Global Policy Forum)

Great Power Conflict over Iraqi Oil: the World War I Era (October, 2002)

Western conflicts over Iraqi oil go back to the World War I era. This article by James A. Paul describes how major international powers combined military force, government pressure and the action by powerful companies to control Iraq's oil. (Global Policy Forum)

Intervention in Iraq, 1958-1959 (April 2008)

From 1958 to 1959, US preemptive intervention in Iraq seemed likely amid policy fears that it would become a "Soviet satellite." Parallel to 2003, the US in the 1950s suffered from national insecurity, conservative media propaganda and oil greed.

President Eisenhower, however, knew enough "about the military, about occupations and about diplomacy" to understand the consequences of invading Iraq and therefore intervention was avoided. (Middle East Institute)

Britain Says US Planned to Seize Oil in '73 Crisis (January 6, 2004)

Declassified British documents indicate that the US government "was prepared to secure America's oil supply," should OPEC prolong the oil embargo. The Pentagon planned to seize oilfields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi. The UK secret intelligence services considered use of force a serious contingency. (New York Times)

Iraq Oil and British Foreign Policy after World War I (1995)

In this excerpt from his book British Foreign Policy During the Curzon Period, 1919-1924, G. H. Bennett discusses the importance of oil in Britain's strategic thinking about Iraq, including the decision to violently repress the Iraqi Revolt of 1920.

Britain's Priority: Control of Oil Reserves

This selection from Helmut Mejcher's Imperial Quest for Oil: Iraq 1910-1928 describes how the British government sought to control Iraq's oil reserves as a supreme policy interest as it established colonial control over the country and drew Iraq's new boundaries.

The Primacy of Oil in Britain's Iraq Policy (1976)

This excerpt from Peter Sluglett's book Britain in Iraq shows how oil was the central issue of concern to British policy makers in the years after World War I.

Sluglett quotes from a number of important documents and he shows that official denials about oil-driven policy were falsehoods to deceive foreign rivals as well as the British public.

Oil in Iraq: The Role of the International Oil Industry

An Interest in Oil (1988)

This excerpt from "America as Junior Partner: Anglo-American Relations in the Middle-East" by Barry Rubin, shows conflicts between the United States and Britain over control of Middle East oil during the interwar period (1918-1939). The conservative Rubin, today a Bush administrtion cheerleader, demonstrates that scholars of all political persuasions recognize the primacy of oil in Middle East history.

Oil Companies Hold Down Production in Iraq (1977)

John Blair, in this well-known study, shows how US and UK oil companies restricted production in their concessions in Iraq, in spite of repeated protests by their French partner and by the Iraqi government.

Oil: The Rewards of Power (1972)

Joyce and Gabriel Kolko describe in this excerpt from The Limits of Power: The World and United States Foreign Policy 1945-1954, the United States' and Britain's struggle for Middle East oil during the post war period.

Nationalization in Iraq

The Oil Companies vs. Iraq: Leadup to Nationalization, 1958-1973

This text, from Joe Stork's classic study on Middle East oil, shows how the Anglo-American companies resisted change in the organization of Iraq's oil industry, ignoring pressure by the government to prospect more widely and pump more oil. After years of obstruction, Iraq finally nationalized its oil industry in June, 1972.

Tariq Shafiq on Iraqi Oil Reserves :



Monday, January 11, 2010


Another interesting reference on Iraqi Oil Reserves (besides the al-Mehaidi report I already mentioned) is Iraq Oil Development Policy Options: In Search Of Balance by Tariq Shafiq from December 2003 (ie about 9 months after the US invasion). According to the article,


Tariq Shafiq is a petroleum engineer who was Vice President and Executive Director of the Iraq National Oil Company (INOC). Recently he was the leading researcher and coordinator for a Petrolog & Associates study on Iraq’s exploration and production capacity, in a joint venture with the Centre for Global Energy Studies


Here are a few excerpts of interest


In 1966, the Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) carried out a study of potential oil reserves covering an area of approximately 215,000 sq km south of the horizontal line at the center of the country and to the south, but excluding the major producing fields of Rumaila and Zubair. The information and data were derived from the records of IPC and its associated companies (BPC and MPC). A total of 301 anomalies were identified, mainly by gravity and some seismic surveys. Of these, only 135 anomalies were considered sufficiently credible. Aided by their geological settings and by probability analysis, the oil-in-place of the Tertiary and Cretaceous age was estimated at 350bn barrels and potential recoverable oil reserves at 111bn barrels.

In 1994, I presented a paper at a geological oil conference in ΄Amman, Jordan, and developed it further a few years later for an oil conference at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, in London (CGES). I utilized an empirical relationship, which relates the discovered oil in a geological basin to the exploration effort along a time-scale. It demonstrates that exploration effectiveness starts low at the initial phase, then picks up sharply and grows almost linearly until the bulk of the reserves are discovered, when it slows down as the ultimate reserves of the basin are reached.

In Iraq, there are some 530 structural anomalies that have been identified by geophysical means. Of these, only 114 have been drilled and, by 1994, oil was established in 73 structural anomalies. I estimated the total ultimate oil reserves housed in these 73 enclosures to be in the order of 144bn barrels, which is in conformity with published data and the experience of Iraqi experts. With the use of size distribution and varying success ratios, the potential oil reserve was estimated to be in the order of 280bn barrels to 360bn barrels, housed in 143 to 183 structural anomalies.

In a further joint study with CGES on Iraq published in 1997 (Oil Production in the Gulf Volume IV), the Petrolog and Associates team – involving myself and others amongst the most experienced petroleum engineers and geologists – carried out an extensive analysis of Iraq’s exploration potential, taking over three man-years. The proven ultimate oil reserves were estimated at 128bn barrels, housed in 80 fields, of which 124bn barrels were housed in 43 discovered fields. The remaining 37 fields have been discovered but not sufficiently delineated. Each has been assigned only 0.1bn barrels. Iraq’s potential reserves were estimated conservatively to be in excess of 216bn barrels. These are large fields with as much reserves as in some of the discovered fields. The largest eight fields housed some 50bn barrels, compared with 92bn barrels housed in eight discovered fields. Our estimate was based on conservative volumetric calculations, using average porosity, oil shrinkage and a recovery factor not exceeding 31% for the oil reserves recoverable from 224 anomalies, among the total of 440 surface and sub-surface identified anomalies which are sufficiently prospected to be included. The potential proven reserve was estimated at 455bn barrels, to which a success rate of 47.5% was applied (being the average of 70% terminating at 25% at the end of the exploration period), giving 216bn barrels of proven reserves. On the basis of the above results, we endorse estimates of an ultimate proven reserve of 140bn barrels and a potential reserve of 215bn barrels, as reported here.

and


Iraq, like all the major oil producers in the Middle East, has been producing oil reserves at a depletion rate of around 1%. The practice was inherited from the concession era when the multinational majors had the oil reserves to produce multiples of the market demand. The companies then, however, had virtually a monopoly over the oil-integrated operations and in order to maintain a stable crude oil price they had to adopt a low depletion rate. They also had to satisfy all their host countries and hence adopted low depletion rates in each country.

The nationalized era seems to have inherited the practice and took on itself a policy of crude oil stabilization with the aid of OPEC, by regulating production. In the meantime, the multinational oil companies and their partners in the non-OPEC countries had to go into much higher depletion rates in order to enhance payback and return on their investment, particularly, in view of investing in higher cost oil countries.

The 2001 depletion rates of the major producers were: North Sea, 18% (UK) and 8% (Norway); the Russian Federation 5%; North America, 9% (USA), 11% (Canada) and 5% (Mexico).

Adopting a depletion rate for Iraq of 4-5%, which is well within good reservoir management practice for large fields, would permit increasing Iraq’s production rate to a peak of 10mn b/d, maintaining it for nine years and then allowing a natural decline. At the end of 25 years, the production rate would be 6.4mn b/d, but the reserves would have declined to 42bn barrels from its current level.

On the same basis of maintaining a depletion rate of 4-5%, Iraq can lift the 10mn b/d plateau to 12mn b/d, and maintain it for eight years provided that 60bn barrels of additional new discoveries are added. This represents only 28% of the likely potential reserves. The plateau could be maintained for eight years, as new reserves are ploughed in at the rate of 3bn barrels per year starting on the seventh year. By the end of the 25th year, production would have reached 11mn b/d and remaining 88bn barrels.

With the world’s annual incremental increase in consumption in the order of 1mn b/d, it would take Iraq a good many years to require a production capacity as high as 10mn b/d. As a result exploration for new potential could very well be deferred.

Clearly exploration for additional reserves is less of a priority than the most pressing one of restoration and rehabilitation, followed by production capacity growth at rates commensurate with market forces, and Iraq’s need for capital for its economic and social development .



http://earlywarn.blogspot.com/2010/0...-reserves.html




" Iraq's Oil Reserves: Untapped Potential

While its proven oil reserves of 112 billion barrels ranks Iraq second in the work behind Saudi Arabia, EIA estimates that up to 90-percent of the county remains unexplored due to years of wars and sanctions. Unexplored regions of Iraq could yield an additional 100 billion barrels. Iraq's oil production costs are among the lowest in the world. However, only about 2,000 wells have been drilled in Iraq, compared to about 1 million wells in Texas alone. "




http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/w...aairaqioil.htm

Iraq exports 57.9 million barrels of oil in Feb
BAGHDAD. March 24. KAZINFORM. Iraqi Oil Ministry said Tuesday Iraq's oil export in February hit 57.9 million barrels, bringing in revenues of $4.229 billion with an average price of $73.04 a barrel; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

A statement by the ministry obtained by Xinhua said that 45.2 million barrels were exported through the southern port of Basra, and 12.7 million barrels were exported via Turkey's port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.

In January, the ministry said the country exported 59.7 million barrels of oil, gaining revenues of $4.416 billion. The decrease in February was because February is three days shorter than January.

Iraq mainly depends on oil revenues as the country has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves estimated at 115 billion barrels, following Saudi Arabia and Iran. It produces roughly 2.5 million barrels a day, mostly for exports;(Kazinform cites Xinhua).http://www.inform.kz/eng/article/2250954

I worked in Iraq for several years (only left a week ago), and in the energy sector there are many projects that have had to be canned due to shortage of water.

The one I'm aware of most acutely is the Kheirat thermal power station to be built on the euphrates tributary between hindiya and Kifl. It was supposed to be a 1200MW oil fired station. but quite simply the river level is too low to supply it with sufficient cooling water (and leave water for the downstream users).

Therefore in Kheirat, the 1200MW thermal station has been replaced by two 125MW gas fired units instead... it is obvious that 250MW is just a tiny fraction of the local requirements... so even when, if, this 250MW station is miraculously completed by the horrendously incompetent local engineers, it will give only a tiny fraction of the real energy requirements for the central euphrates region.

I worked in Iraq for several years (only left a week ago), and in the energy sector there are many projects that have had to be canned due to shortage of water.

The one I'm aware of most acutely is the Kheirat thermal power station to be built on the euphrates tributary between hindiya and Kifl. It was supposed to be a 1200MW oil fired station. but quite simply the river level is too low to supply it with sufficient cooling water (and leave water for the downstream users).

Therefore in Kheirat, the 1200MW thermal station has been replaced by two 125MW gas fired units instead... it is obvious that 250MW is just a tiny fraction of the local requirements... so even when, if, this 250MW station is miraculously completed by the horrendously incompetent local engineers, it will give only a tiny fraction of the real energy requirements for the central euphrates region. Were you an American contractor?

I'm iraqi.

Reason I ask is that my roommate's father worked for KBR (yes, I am American) in Iraq for a couple of years and just recently returned.

Why do you think that the local engineers are incompetent? Is it due to lack of experience, not caring, etc... and how long do you think foreign contractors will remain in Iraq?

Iraqi incompetence (not just engineers, all sectors of the economy, administration, education etc...):
-lack of experience
-lack of international experience and perspective
-lack of English knowledge, and little interest in acquiring it
-lack of research skills (Internet).
-corruption and nepotism
-pride and myopia (links in nicely with lack of international exposure/perspective).
-paranoia and a belief in "conspiracies" in lieu of rational thought


your second question, how long will foreign contractors remain in iraq:
most of the infrastructure of iraq was built by foreign contractors between the 1950s-1980s. today most of what you see in iraq was built by those foreigners, with iraqi expertise being generally limited to building simple roads (badly), concrete houses (very badly), and some 4 storey blocks (extremely badly).

everything else:
-hospitals
-roads
-bridges
-ministry buildings
-large hotels
-oil refineries
-factories
-railways
-airports
-seaports
-apartment blocks (more than 3 storeys)

were built by foreign contractors before, and in the future will be built by foreign contractors.

Hey sheytan might that not be due to the brain drain and the state of the country during those years. It's been happening continuously for decades, it's bound to take a toll on the countrys ability to operate. I mean we're talking about a country that has citezens living in it only because they have no other options. The widespread corruption surely doesnt help matters

^^ not to mention a decade of sanctions.. i personally believe the sanctions were the single most devastating legacy of the previous era. it deprived the country of everything you can possibly think of.. people were left to fend for themselves under a ridiculous economic situation.

Some people already seem to have forgotten the days of hyper-inflation. people were reduced to bartering for the love of god ! seriously, no one in their right mind should expect Iraq to function as a western society only after 7 years of change.. the issues that Sheytan listed require long term solutions.

There are millions of highly educated Iraqis that left (and many are very keen to go back and help out). I'm optimistic about the future. We just need to persever as a nation.

The sanctions and "brain drain" are small factors in the above.

The main factor is the fact that Iraq's infrastructure was ALWAYS built by foreign contractors, before any "sanctions" and before any "brain drain". I have seen the new "brain drain" from Iraq and most are not "professionals" by any international standard. Iraq hasn't lost much to be honest.

Iraq will improve when they have a government "acceptable" to arabs + more income from oil to impport foreign contractors to work in Iraq.

I know this may offend "iraqi professionals TM" but after living and working in the gulf, and taking into fact that all of iraq's previous infrastructure was built by foreign companies, there really is very little value to these professionals and their loss is no loss.

the only true losses are:
the incompetence of ministries
their tiny budgets for capital projects,
no laws to protect foreign investors rights
idiosyncratic laws on "return of professionals" that recognises ONLY the work experience gained working in Iraq!! (which conversely is probably the only useless work experience one can have). - imagine a dumbarse who spent 20 years "collecting a salary" in some dusty office in baghdad is worth more than, say, a top Scientist from Stanford! at least according to Iraq's "rules" which are in place to jealously (and fearfully) guard the "positions" of Iraq's internal "professionals". Don't ever come under the impression that the employment of these "professionals" in iraq and the battle over "employment positions" in all sections of the state-economy is anything more than social-security for mostly inept and incompetent "professionals" who would really be hard pressed to get a job as a taxi driver or kebab seller in any "international" standard country.

etc....

^^ I respectfully disagree with you. The brain drain is a major factor, and so were the sanctions. I can't speak on behalf of what you've seen. But from my prospective of the Iraqi communities that I've visited (here, but also UK, Australia , UAE); despite their relatively small population (compared to other minority groups), they are considered high achievers by any standard, and most of whom are first generation migrants. Whether it be finance, medicine, engineering, academia etc. I've personally met many brilliant Iraqis who were coerced for one reason or another to depart their homland. Surely if Iraqis were as incompetent as you described them to be they wouldn't go as far as they have.

I would like to avoid calling you as a "self-hating" Iraqi, even though your post does come across to me that way. Any grievances that you've encountered in Iraq should not be generalised. Obviously the current professional standard in Iraq leaves one with much remorse and at the same time hope for improvement. But there is long series of gross mismanagement of the entire country that has led to this. You were maybe lucky enough to be spared these misfortunes, but many of your fellow men and women were not.

I have a lot on my mind to say about the gulf region regarding the point you bought up, but perhaps a public forum isn't the most appropriate place to discuss this. However, I would like to say that if any of the arab neighbouring countries went through what Iraq has been through, they would be in far worse place than Iraq is now. (I say this as a realistic assessment and not out of arrogance).

I think you misunderstood me.

I wasn't talking about the competence of iraqis who lived / studied / worked abroad. I was talking about the iraqis educated / worked in iraq as "professionals". There's no doubt about the competence of iraqis working up to international standards... of course those iraqis could never get a job inside iraq because of the protectionist measures put in place by the ministries in iraq to safeguard the jobs of the local incompetents from both "long term exiles" and foreign expats.

as for comparisons with the gulf region. Forget it. let me just say one thing. show me one decent large scale project that iraqis managed to build on their own in the past 50 years.

the two hilarious ones that come to mind are the "2 storey bridge" and "ma'moun tower". Nuff said. Literally everything was built by foreign contractors when these iraqi "professionals" were in country, before sanctions or any such thing... even simple 4 storey apartment blocks were built by foreign companies, and anything touched by locals is an inevitable catastrophe (see, sewage works, roads and sidewalks that Iraqis "attempted" to make). - as for education and medical care... well in the 1970s and 1980s (the so called "golden era" when all these "professionals" were in iraq and there were no sanctions, all the wealthier people went abroad for both medical care and education - and iraq's medical and educational system relied massively on foreign professionals during those times to boot) - we can go in depth into literally any section of Iraq's economy/society and see that without foreign help we could do nothing... nice examples being the 20,000 workers + $30Bn dolar 10 year attempt to build a nuclear bomb which managed to enrich just a few grammes of uranium for all that expenditure (when iraqis attempted to "go it alone" without the use of foreigners - I bet if they gave the project to an indian management team they would have had nukes for about $500M within 5 years)... etc.. etc...

trying to characterise me as a self-hating iraqi simply won't whitewash the above facts. the sooner we accept them, the sooner we can begin remedying them. otherwise if the above is not true, then we certainly can "rebuild" iraq alone.

unfortunately a lot of this nonsensical myopic views are spouted by iraqis inside iraq (and especially by the "newly expatriated" post 2003 expats, especially regarding the mythical "rebuilding of iraq" post 1991).

Unfortunately if we, as Iraqis, accept the nonsensical assertions of these "professionals" (who failed iraq so miserably over the past 3 decades) we will not end the rut. as long as these "professionals" are in protected jobs (and the ones who got booted to amman/damascus will return with allawi and co soon) will simply continue with the rut. As long as incompetent iraqi contractors and families are allowed to work e.g. bunia, khrabit etc... then iraq's future is well and truly screwed. The solution is not pretty, but the core items are:

-Iraq adopts international standards for all works, and contractors must be accredited INTERNATIONALLY before being allowed any work
-Only engineers with international chartered status should be allowed to work as engineers. i.e. EU / US / Japanese / and other developed nations' chartered schemes. Iraq's own institutes should be DISSOLVED, as they are no measure of quality.
-The constitution changed to enshrine the sanctity of private property from government repossession. both for citizens and foreigners, which can only be changed by a 2/3rds majority in parliament.
-Limit the Military and interior ministry's budget to 3% of GDP, enshrine this in the constitution.
-Allow full participation of foreign investors in iraq's stock market.
-Bring accountability standards up to IFRS standards and all companies must have their internal paperwork and financial statements in English and publicly available on the internet
-Eliminate 70% of all ministries. complete dissolution.
-Change the "rules" for professional appointments to take into account international work experience and to judge professionals according to their INTERNATIONAL standing as opposed to the number of years of service inside Iraq. (hahaha. turkeys voting for christmas this one).
-Open up Iraq's employment market to foreign professionals. get the locals ruffled up with some competition.
-Place all proceeds from oil sales into a development fund. Every single penny. The government bureaucracy should be funded 100% from taxes / rates and government bonds

I think you misunderstood me.

I wasn't talking about the competence of iraqis who lived / studied / worked abroad. I was talking about the iraqis educated / worked in iraq as "professionals". There's no doubt about the competence of iraqis working up to international standards... of course those iraqis could never get a job inside iraq because of the protectionist measures put in place by the ministries in iraq to safeguard the jobs of the local incompetents from both "long term exiles" and foreign expats.



I was also referring to a large number of Iraqi professionals who were educated and worked in Iraq but left during the 80s and 90s. In my opinion, this was the real brain drain that truly devastated the country.

This discussion reminded me of a case study that was presented to us during a 1st year engineering course about low-tech engineering. The case study described how Iraqi engineers maintained the running of a power plant during the gulf war. I remember the lecturer exclaiming the that Iraqi engineers were so resourceful, they were building home made boilers while the country was still being bombed. At the time I was very ignorant of Iraq industry. but while sitting in that class I felt proud to be Iraqi.

For the last 30 years Iraq has been through catastrophic circumstances. It simply isn't fair to ignore all of this and claim Iraq is in shit because they were incompetent to begin with.


as for comparisons with the gulf region. Forget it. let me just say one thing. show me one decent large scale project that Iraqis managed to build on their own in the past 50 years. the two hilarious ones that come to mind are the "2 storey bridge" and "ma'moun tower". Nuff said. Literally everything was built by foreign contractors when these iraqi "professionals" were in country, before sanctions or any such thing... even simple 4 storey apartment blocks were built by foreign companies, and anything touched by locals is an inevitable catastrophe (see, sewage works, roads and sidewalks that Iraqis "attempted" to make). -


Well yea! after 8 year war with Iran, billions of dollars wasted, and much more in loans.. That's what I meant. the gross mismanagement of pretty much everything during the 80s is what ruined the economy, education, public services. I don't think you realise that "professionals" back then were public servants ! (i.e. low paid slaves !). all decisions were made at the top. and they can be described as moronic at best.


as for education and medical care... well in the 1970s and 1980s (the so called "golden era" when all these "professionals" were in Iraq and there were no sanctions, all the wealthier people went abroad for both medical care and education - and Iraq's medical and educational system relied massively on foreign professionals during those times to boot) -


We had a medical and education systems that was were envy of the middle east during the 70s. International students used to line up for scholarships to get into Baghdad university. My extended family were part of this generation, they were from a fairly average economic background. all of them ended up being professionals, and many left Iraq and pursued their careers elsewhere. this includes 4 engineers, 2 surgeons, 4 scientists (one of whom currently leads a major research group here in NZ with several patents published under his name), and I've had the privilege to meet many highly accomplished individuals from this generation. I strongly contest your argument of 'incompetence'.



we can go in depth into literally any section of Iraq's economy/society and see that without foreign help we could do nothing... nice examples being the 20,000 workers + $30Bn dolar 10 year attempt to build a nuclear bomb which managed to enrich just a few grammes of uranium for all that expenditure... etc.. etc...


Again. these examples only enforce what I meant by the poor governance of the old regime. that's what happens when you have a dictatorship. all rationale is thrown out of the window. did Iraq need a nuclear reactor? would anyone vote for it if they had the choice?

Even Germany and Japan needed foreign help after WWII. There is no shame in that. Iraq needs all the help that it can get. Overtime, many of the problems that you described will be eliminated as long as there is a true free market (which is exactly what I fear about the protectionist attitude that you described, this will make things even worse :ohno:)


trying to characterise me as a self-hating iraqi simply won't whitewash the above facts. the sooner we accept them, the sooner we can begin remedying them. otherwise if the above is not true, then we certainly can "rebuild" iraq alone.


I apologize if I did offend you by stating that (I did regret saying so after posting and I was about to remove it). I agree with you 100% that we should all be realists and not live in a pretend delusional world where everything goes perfectly. Otherwise how different are we from the old regime?


unfortunately a lot of this nonsensical myopic views are spouted by iraqis inside iraq (and especially by the "newly expatriated" post 2003 expats, especially regarding the mythical "rebuilding of iraq" post 1991).


I'm aware of some of the unsubstantiated touting of the rebuilding effort. especially in some pro-American media. Please don't confuse my views with theirs. Iraq needs alot of work. as far as i'm concerned were still at square one.

^^ sorry I didn't see you're last edit before my reply

perhaps the last few posts can be copied and pasted into a new thread called "rebuilding iraq problems and solutions..." since its kind of off topic to the main topic of this thread.

MODS?

IRAQ HAS ABILITY TO MEET GLOBAL DEMAND FORCRUDE OIL -- OIL MINISTER
KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 (NNN-BERNAMA) -- Iraq, with the world's fifth largest provel oil reserves, has the ability to meet the global demand for crude oil, says Oil Minister Dr Hussain Al-Shahristani.

However, he stresses that Iraq is only going produce what is needed by the market. "We are not going to flood the market and influence the price in any negative way," he said on the sidelines of the 15th Asia Oil and Gas Conference here Monday.

"Our projection for the coming two decades is that the world would be requiring additional oil. There is no other source that can replace oil in any significant way," he told a media conference.

According to Al-Shahristani, there is not much oil available in other parts of the world. "So, we think any additional demand for oil, particularly from Asian markets, will be met by Iraq," he said.

Iraq's current projection for its oil production is about 2.5 million barrels per day. The country, which has proven resources of 115 billion barrels of oil, expects to add another 150,000 barrels per day in output by the end of this year and another 200,000 to 250,000 barrels daily next year.

Al-Shahristani said Iraq would open another round of bid for a major gas exploration project in September. http://namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=122968

IRAQI OIL EXPLORATION TO COME UNDER SPOTLIGHT AT CONFERENCE IN ISTANBUL
DUBAI, Aug 19 (NNN-BERNAMA) -- The exploration of Iraq's rich oil and gas fields will come under the spotlight during the "Iraq Energy Future 2010" meeting of oil executives and Iraqi energy regulators in Istanbul on Sept 27 and 28.

Organizers said the event would be taking place as global companies which had won contracts in Iraq prepared to start work on the development of various fields.

Speakers and experts at the event will address issues such as operational challenges, opportunities, legislation, infrastructure and pipeline modernization.

Malaysia's national oil and gas corporation, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), together with its foreign consortium partners, has secured four bids submitted to develop oil fields in Iraq.

In comments published ahead of the Istanbul gathering, Iraqi oil industry veteran Dr Thamir Al Uqaili said there was a general belief that the production plateau targets (PPTs) of the independent oil companies which had won contracts in Iraq were too ambitious and that exports would face a marketing problem.

"There are certainly common issues, mainly use of production surface facilities and export terminals in addition to achieving and maintaining the contracted PPTs," he said.

The expert said maintaining field pressure and boosting production was a key area for the oil companies to solve as they got started.

According to Dr Al Uqaili, there was a need to upgrade and expand several production or export facilities to ensure that Iraq could export its output.

He also believed that the current bottleneck in the Iraq-Turkey export pipeline must be removed and perhaps a third line be constructed.

Furthermore, he said, should Iraq reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia, the Iraq Petroleum Saudi Arabia (IPSA) pipeline should be put into service.

"There is the possibility of constructing a pipeline each to Kuwait and Jordan," said Dr Al Uqaili whose vast experience includes stints with the Iraq Petroleum Company, Basra Petroleum Company, Iraq National Oil Company, State Company of Oil Projects and the Iraq Drilling Company.

He noted that the main worries pertained to issues of political stability and security which might severely affect fulfilment of a reliable national integrated plan that includes other sectors besides the oil sector. http://namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=130670

45 companies to take part in gas field auction in October – spokesman

September 20, 2010 - 09:34:30
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq is to hold a public auction on October 20 for the rights to work on three gas fields, an oil ministry spokesman said on Monday, noting that 45 companies will compete to win this auction.
The sale of the undeveloped fields, which have estimated reserves totalling about 317 billion cubic metres — bcm (11 trillion cubic feet — tcf), follows two invitations to tender for oil fields last year in which 10 contracts were agreed with foreign energy giants.
“We have decided to hold the gas field auction on October 20,” Assem Jihad told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
“All the companies which participated in the oil field auction will be participating, but we will know exactly how many companies will participate on the day of the auction itself.”
Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani on May 6 invited international energy firms to submit bids for the gas fields, which he said at the time would be held on September 1.
He said 45 companies that had taken part in the two previous rounds of bidding would be eligible to compete and that the contracts on offer would again be service agreements, under which Baghdad pays the foreign company fixed fees based on production quotas rather than a share of profits based on sales.
SH (P)
　

AMMAN (Dow Jones)--The Iraqi cabinet Tuesday approved a $733 million deal for Leighton Offshore Private Ltd. to build a new oil export terminal in the southern city of Basra, a spokesman for the Iraqi government said.

"The capacity of the new terminal will be 1.8 million barrels a day," Ali Al Dabbagh told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Baghdad.

Dabbagh said when the new floating terminal is completed it would bring Iraq's oil exports capacity from southern terminals on the Gulf to 3 million barrels a day. The terminal should be up and running in 15 months from the start of work.

He said the cabinet approval came after the Iraqi oil ministry sent a request to award the contract to the company. Leighton Offshore was chosen out of four international companies which were invited to submit offers for the project.

Dabbagh said that the project also includes extending pipelines to the terminal.

Some $175 million out of the total value of the project has been already allocated from the country's budget this year, he said. The rest would be allocated in the 2011 budget, he added.

Iraq's two terminals, Basra and Khor al-Amaya, have a total export capacity of 1.6 million barrels a day.

Foster Wheeler Ltd. (FWLT) last July won a project management consultancy service contract for the project.

Iraq aims to install four new floating oil terminals and three new undersea oil pipelines to replace aging ones in Basra port with the aim of boosting export to 8 million barrels a day.

The capacities of southern export terminals need to be increased to cope with an expected production boom after Baghdad signed with international oil companies over the last 10 months some 11 mega deals to develop some of its prized oil fields.

Baghdad said that its production could reach some 12 million barrels a day from the current 2.5 million barrels a day in 2017 if companies met their pledge to boost production.

Iraq will announce updated oil reserve numbers on Monday!

It is speculated that Iraq's reserve figures will be TRIPLED from the current 115Bn barrels, based on new surveys carried out in the past 3 years.

it will be interesting to see what the new figures and geographic distribution are.

^^ yes i've been eagerly waiting for this as well! but in my opinion "tripled" seems a bit ambitious. but fingers crossed !

Iraq dramatically increased the official size of its proven oil reserves Monday with new data suggesting they have reached 143.1 billion barrels of oil, up from a previous 115 billion barrels, the country's Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said Monday.

The government will inform the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on the new proven reserves, Mr. al-Shahristani told a news conference in Baghdad where he announced the rise.

The figure, the first update since 2001, would mean Iraq has the world's second largest reserves according to statistics on the OPEC website. Iraq would take second place from Iran, which has 137.01 billion barrels of proven reserves, but would still be far behind Saudi Arabia, which has 264.59 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, according to OPEC figures.

"These aren't random figures, rather they were the results of deep surveys carried out by the ministry's oil reservoir company and international companies which signed contracts with Iraq," Mr. al-Shahristani said. "Most of these figures were the result of surveys conducted by these international companies, especially at oil fields such as West Qurna and Zubair."

Iraq has signed 12 deals with international oil companies to ramp up output capacity to about 12 million barrels a day from around 2.4 million barrels a day now.

BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Lukoil Holdings , Eni SpA, Total SA, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. and China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, have signed on to develop Iraq's vast oil fields.

Mr. al-Shahristani said the largest Iraqi oil field was West Qurna. With total proven oil reserves of 43 billion barrels, it could be the world's second largest. West Qurna is divided in two—Phase 1 and Phase 2. Exxon Mobil won a deal to develop Phase 1, while Lukoil led a consortium to develop Phase 2.

Rumaila, which is being developed by BP and CNPC, is the second-largest Iraqi oil field, with total proven reserves of 17 billion barrels, the minister said. Majnoon, which Shell won the right to develop, comes third with proven reserves of 11 billion barrels of oil.

These three are in southern Basra. The untapped East Baghdad oil field, near the capital, has proven reserves of 8 billion barrels, while Kirkuk oil field in the north has 8.9 billion barrels, the minister said.

Mr. al-Shahristani said 71% of Iraq's total oil reserves are located in the southern Iraqi governorates, particularly in Basra. Some 20% of the reserves are in northern governorate particularly in Kirkuk, while the remaining 9% are located in central Iraq.

The minister said the new reserve figure doesn't include the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. The region's authorities have estimated reserves in their Kurdistan region to be around 40 billion barrels. The ministry will update Iraqi oil reserves on yearly bases from now on, the minister said, adding he expects the reserves to increase.

From the wall street journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531513360536600.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

so basically just the tit-for-tat race between Iraq and Iran continuing...

Industrial manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. said Tuesday it is opening an office in Baghdad to make equipment for Iraq's oil and gas industry and plans to open other offices in the country over the next few years.

The company said it is hiring local employees.

Iraq is home to the world's third largest proven reserves of crude. Oil exports account for more than 90 percent of its state revenue. The country has been struggling to rebuild its oil infrastructure after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Years of international sanctions ravaged Iraq's oil industry. Looting, sabotage and perennial security woes during the war battered the sector even more and stunted investor interest.

"Honeywell is uniquely positioned to play a key role in the reconstruction and development of Iraq," said Norm Gilsdorf, president of Honeywell Process Solutions. "We are committed to a full-scale presence in order to most effectively manage projects and build and nurture local relationships."

Last year, Iraq held two bidding rounds and awarded 12 contracts to develop 14 oil fields -- all but two located in the south of the country.

Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said the country hopes to boost its production capacity to 12 million barrels per day by 2017 with the new contracts -- a level that would put it just shy of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia's current production capacity.

Morristown, N.J.-based Honeywell makes turbine propulsion engines, landing systems for aircraft manufacturers, scanning devices, vehicle brake parts and chemicals, among other items. In midday trading, Honeywell's shares rose $1.07, or 2.5 percent, to $44.68.

A British court has awarded between $55 million and $75 million to Peter W. Galbraith, the former United States diplomat who advised the Kurds during the negotiations on Iraq’s Constitution, and a Yemeni investor for their stake in a widely criticized oil deal involving Iraq’s rich northern fields, the oil company ordered to pay the award said Wednesday.

Mr. Galbraith, who described himself as an unpaid adviser to the Kurds, helped the Kurds — rather than Iraq’s central government in Baghdad — gain nearly complete control over all new oil finds in the north.

The New York Times and the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reported last year that during constitutional negotiations in 2005 that addressed, among other things, control of oil fields, Mr. Galbraith had been a paid adviser to the Norwegian oil company DNO, and that Mr. Galbraith had acted as an mediator between DNO and the Kurdish government in talks that won the company a potentially lucrative contract to work those northern fields.

The court decision on Wednesday stems from a stake in that deal claimed by Mr. Galbraith and the Yemeni investor, Shaher Abdulhak, according to DNO. A Norwegian business associate who worked with Mr. Galbraith in the original talks has said that he sold his interest in the deal to Mr. Abdulhak, accounting for the dual award.

Iraqi government officials and American analysts have asserted that Mr. Galbraith’s dual role during the constitutional negotiations implied a conflict of interest, since the provisions he championed could have increased the value of his own interests. But he has rejected such claims, saying that he was merely helping the Kurds press their long-stated policy goals. “So, while I may have had interests, I see no conflict,” Mr. Galbraith said last year.

DNO said that while the court did not formulate the award as a specific dollar value, the company was able to calculate its likely range. The award fell between the $12 million proposed by DNO and the $144 million proposed by the two claimants, the company said.

Tracey Brinson, a spokeswoman for Porcupine, a company that records in Delaware from 2009 show is registered to Mr. Galbraith, said, “While we do not know the size of the award, it is related to the value created for DNO’s shareholders and the people of Kurdistan.”

When asked whether DNO now had second thoughts about having hired Mr. Galbraith, given his dual roles at the time, a spokesman for the company, Tom Bratlie, said: “I see no point in regretting anything. What is important is that we are fully financially able to cover this and that we are able to put this thing behind us and to continue to develop the company.”

Industrial manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. said Tuesday it is opening an office in Baghdad to make equipment for Iraq's oil and gas industry and plans to open other offices in the country over the next few years.

The company said it is hiring local employees.

Iraq is home to the world's third largest proven reserves of crude. Oil exports account for more than 90 percent of its state revenue. The country has been struggling to rebuild its oil infrastructure after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Years of international sanctions ravaged Iraq's oil industry. Looting, sabotage and perennial security woes during the war battered the sector even more and stunted investor interest.

"Honeywell is uniquely positioned to play a key role in the reconstruction and development of Iraq," said Norm Gilsdorf, president of Honeywell Process Solutions. "We are committed to a full-scale presence in order to most effectively manage projects and build and nurture local relationships."

Last year, Iraq held two bidding rounds and awarded 12 contracts to develop 14 oil fields -- all but two located in the south of the country.

Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said the country hopes to boost its production capacity to 12 million barrels per day by 2017 with the new contracts -- a level that would put it just shy of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia's current production capacity.

Morristown, N.J.-based Honeywell makes turbine propulsion engines, landing systems for aircraft manufacturers, scanning devices, vehicle brake parts and chemicals, among other items. In midday trading, Honeywell's shares rose $1.07, or 2.5 percent, to $44.68.

i read about that too, good news...we need more american companies to enter the market.

interesting news SheytanElkebir, keep it up . best wishes btw iam new here and soon i post some interesting pices about EyeQ :)

The Japanese government is funding the construction and installation of a series of pipelines connecting inland oil storage and offshore shipping terminals and facilities for Iraq’s South Oil Company.

The project, known as Japanese Sealines, will be financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency as part of the Japanese government’s commitment of up to US$5 billion (€3.58 billion) of assistance for reconstruction in Iraq made at the Madrid Donor Conference in 2003.

The tender comes in at an estimated US$600 million. Dates for the tender are still tentative, but a request for quotations is expected to be released on 15 October with bids due to be submitted by 15 December. The contract could be awarded as early as 15 March 2011.

The project will include the installation of a 45km trunk line and a 10km onshore pipeline, both with a diametre of 48 inches. It will also include the installation of a single point mooring and pipeline end manifold supplied by the Netherland’s SBM Offshore.

Eight international engineering groups have been prequalified for the deal: Punj Lloyd (India); Marubeni (Japan) with Toyo (Japan) and McDermott (UK); Saipem (Italy); National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE); Al-Habtoor Leighton (UAE); Royal Boskalis Westminster (the Netherlands) with Penta Ocean Construction (Japan); JFE Engineering Corporation (Japan); and Van Oord (the Netherlands) with SBM Offshore (the Netherlands).

Iraq Says It's Near Final Draft Of $12 Billion Gas Contract With Shell

VIENNA -(Dow Jones)- Iraq is in the final stages of agreeing on a draft of its $12 billion gas contract with Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the country's oil minister said Wednesday, allaying fears the project was mired in a legal dispute.

Speaking upon his arrival in Vienna for a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, Hussein al-Shahristani also said a planned bidding round for three major gas fields would go ahead as planned on Oct. 20 after being delayed twice before.

Asked about the reported delay of the Shell deal, Shahristani said: "We are in the final stages of agreeing on the draft before we take it on the cabinet again," adding "There has been no dispute" over the deal.

The Iraqi cabinet last month delayed the finalization of the project with Shell and Japan's Mitsubishi to capture gas from Basra's oilfields because of legal issues related to the joint venture, the website of Iraq Business News reported at the time. The cabinet already had approved the planned investment in June, but it is now waiting to sign the final draft once it is resubmitted by the oil ministry.

Shahristani said 13 companies had bought tender documents for the coming auction of the Akkas, Mansouriya and Siba gas fields.

"But I don't know how many are going to bid," he added.

Companies previously linked with the tender include Eni SpA (E, ENI.MI) and Edison SpA (EDN.MI), both of Italy, Japan's Mitsubishi, France's Total SA (TOT, FP.FR), South Korea's Kogas and Russia's TNK-BP Holding (TNBP.RS).

Iraq is intent on developing the fields to help boost its creaking levels of electricity supply, which still stand at only a few hours a day in some parts of the country.

Aiming to exploit estimated reserves of around 11.23 trillion cubic feet of gas in the three fields, Baghdad has already twice delayed the bids to accommodate foreign bidders, and has sweetened terms of the eventual deal.

It has promised to end the extra "signature bonus" payments of several hundred million dollars made by successful bidders in previous auctions, and will take or pay for all of the gas produced from these three fields.

According to Iraq's oil ministry, Akkas field in Anbar province has around 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas; Mansouriya in Diyala province has reserves of about 4.5 trillion cubic feet; and Siba, located in Basra province, contains around 1.13 trillion cubic feet.

Iraq auctions off three major gas fields


Iraq auctioned three major natural gas fields to foreign companies on Wednesday as it seeks to shake off a legacy of war, bolster its standing as an energy giant and break into the lucrative global gas market.

Global energy executives braved lingering violence and political uncertainty to attend the auction in Baghdad, the third bidding round since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but Western companies either did not compete or failed to win.

In the previous two energy auctions last year, Iraq sold contracts to develop some of its biggest oilfields, setting the stage for its crude output capacity to quadruple to Saudi levels of 12 million barrels per day if everything goes to plan.

Wednesday's gas auction kicked off with South Korea's Kogas and Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas Exploration & Production winning a deal to develop the largest of the three, Akkas gas field in the Sunni heartland of western Iraq.

Kuwait Energy and Turkey's TPAO won the bid for Siba gas field in Iraq's relatively peaceful southern oil hub of Basra, while TPAO, Kuwait Energy and Kogas won the third gas field, Mansuriyah, near the Iranian border in volatile Diyala province.

The only Western company to bid was French major Total. Analysts said Iraq's lack of gas infrastructure and security concerns kept other big global names away.

"There are a couple of uncertainties when it comes to Iraq such as the infrastructure, political situation and the situation of Iraq's gas industry in terms of technological innovation," said Cuneyt Kazokoglu, an analyst at JBC Energy.

"So because of these the interest is rather limited."

Major violence has abated from the peak of sectarian bloodshed three years ago, but foreign oil companies still face shaky security in a country struggling to tame a stubborn Islamist insurgency.

The winning bidders also have to build almost non-existing gas infrastructure and a pipeline network from scratch and brave the risks of operating in violent areas where some provincial opposition against the auction is already ramping up.

Iraq says the gas will be used to generate electricity domestically and as feedstock for industry, but some firms are also hoping to export to neighbouring countries.

Thamir al-Ghadhban, a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said on the sidelines of the auction that Iraq did not rule out exporting gas once domestic needs were satisfied.

"There is no doubt it was a very successful auction," he said. "I don't see a problem in the future with exporting gas."

TPAO vice president Besim Sisman said the group eyed exports from Siba either through Kuwait or the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline to Europe.

"Nabucco is very important for us," he said.

On Mansuriyah, he said his company and its partners expected to invest $2.5 billion to develop it.

EXPORTS

Iraq's economy is dominated by oil and its gas sector has long been neglected. But the government want to diversify the economy and broaden its source of revenues.

Thirteen companies registered for the auction including Italy's ENI, Edison, Norway's Statoil and Russia's TNK-BP, but not all registered firms bid on Wednesday.

The bidding round was delayed twice to give companies more time to study the contract terms.

The fields have estimated combined reserves of 11.23 trillion cubic feet of gas, about 10 percent of Iraq's total 112 tcf of proven natural gas reserves, the world's 10th largest.

Kogas and KazMunaiGas, who bid against a consortium of Total and TPAO, set a remuneration fee of $5.50 per barrel of oil equivalent at Akkas and proposed a plateau production target of 400 million standard cubic feet per day. The total investment will be about $4.4 billion, South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in the statement.

Kuwait Energy and TPAO set a remuneration fee of $7.50 per barrel of oil equivalent for Siba and its plateau output target was 100 million cubic feet per day of gas. TPAO said the group would invest $1 billion.

The partners planning to develop Mansuriyah accepted a fee of $7 per barrel of oil equivalent and set a plateau production target of 320 million cubic feet of gas per day. Investment in that field was expected to be $2.5 billion, TPAO said.

Iraq's Rumaila oil output to rise 10% in Nov

British oil major BP and partners were expected to meet an initial target of a 10 percent rise in output from the Rumaila oilfield, the backbone of Iraq's crude production, by end-November, an Iraqi oil official said.

Deputy oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said on Sunday the ministry was also examining how a consortium led by Italy's ENI managed to boost output from the Zubair oilfield by more than 10 percent.

'Yes, we expect to achieve the 10 percent increase by the end of this month,' he told Reuters when asked if BP and its partners will reach their initial production target in November.

'For Zubair, there is an increase but it is under study ... The increase was more than 10 percent from Zubair,' he said, adding the ministry would announce the rise officially after it had been studied and tested.

Supergiant Rumaila, with 17 billion barrels in estimated crude reserves, is the workhorse of Iraq's oil industry, producing almost half its total output of 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd).

BP and Chinese partner CNPC signed a 20-year development contract for Rumaila and expect to increase output to 2.85 million bpd in six years. The group agreed on a baseline production level of 1.066 million bpd, according to Iraqi officials.

ENI, along with US-based Occidental Petroleum Corp and Kogas, sealed a 20-year contract with Iraq to develop the Zubair oilfield. They set an output target of 1.2 million bpd and agreed on a baseline production level of 183,000 bpd.

The deals were part of a series of contracts Iraq signed with oil companies to develop its vast oil reserves. If all the projects turn out as planned, Iraq could boost its capacity to Saudi levels of 12 million bpd.

Iraq will start paying development costs next year to oil companies that won contracts to develop the reserves after they reach initial output targets, Luaibi said. 'For the 2011 budget, we have allocated a certain amount of money to pay costs to the companies who deserve payment.'

To meet the anticipated rise in oil production, Iraq plans to overhaul its crumbling infrastructure and export pipelines as it aims to become one of the world's top oil powers.

The oil ministry has asked international firms that won contracts to develop oilfields whether they were interested in financing the country's crude export infrastructure projects.

BP, CNPC, U.S. company ExxonMobil and Russia group Lukoil were among companies interested in funding part of the export projects, Luaibi said.

'We are in the stage of preparing the tender documents and we are about to sign with a consultancy to verify these documents for us and we will announce it soon,' he said.

KBR Wins Maysan Refinery Contracts
Posted on 24 August 2010. Tags: Halliburton, KBR, Maissan, Maysan, Missan, Refineries

KBR (NYSE: KBR) today announced that it has been awarded two contracts by the Republic of Iraq Ministry of Oil through the South Refineries Company. KBR will provide licensing and basic engineering services for the construction of Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) and Solvent Deasphalting (SDA) units at the planned grassroots Maissan Refinery in Maissan [Maysan], Iraq. Work on the projects is expected to commence immediately.
KBR will license its FCC Technology for an anticipated 47,500 barrels per day (BPD) FCC unit and its Residuum Oil Supercritical Extraction (ROSE(R)) technology for a 45,000 BPD SDA unit. The FCC unit will be delivered under a joint marketing alliance between KBR and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE).
“These awards mark the first wins for KBR’s Technology Business in Iraq and provide KBR the opportunity to introduce two of its leading refining technologies into an important, emerging market,” said Tim Challand, President, KBR Technology. “We look forward to forging a solid and sustainable relationship with the Ministry and South Refineries Company.”
KBR is a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, hydrocarbon, government services, minerals, civil infrastructure, power and industrial markets.

first the news.

Production from Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oil field should more than triple to 750,000 barrels a day in three years time, an oil official said on Sunday.
The 8.6 billion barrel field, which is being developed by a consortium including ExxonMobil and Shell, currently produces 234,000 barrels per day, Madhi Swadi, the head of the joint management commission that runs the field, told The Associated Press. Output is set to climb to 270,000 barrels per day by May, he added.
Under the agreement between Iraq and the companies, production from the West Qurna I field should reach 2.825 million barrels a day after 6 to 7 years. The consortium will be paid $1.9 per barrel for each barrel produced.
That production target is up from the 2.325 million barrels a day target when the deal was announced late last year.
The consortium was originally only allowed to pump oil from one reservoir, but five more reservoirs were added to the field over the summer.
Swadi said this year’s budget to develop the field stood at $306 million, and next year’s budget is expected to be about $1.1 billion.
There are currently 360 wells at the field, and the consortium is planning to start up about 2,000 more over their contract’s 20-year duration.


Bloomberg reports that Iraq plans to start work in the next three weeks on offshore oil facilities in the southern part of the country, where export capacity is due to more than double by mid-2012.
Export capacity will rise to 4.5 million barrels a day by mid-2012 from the existing capacity of 1.8 million barrels a day, Director General Dhia Jaafar al-Musawi, head of the state-owned South Oil Co., said in an interview at an energy conference in Basra.
“All contracts for materials and equipments, including pipelines, cables, moorings for land and offshore areas are now completed,” he said. “More than 70 percent of the necessary pipelines have been built and are ready to be delivered for the project.”
The country plans to build two offshore “megapipelines” and three single-buoy moorings where tankers can load crude on the Persian gulf. Each mooring is due to add 900,000 barrels a day in offshore loading capacity. Half of the sea surveys and ordnance clearing activities needed for the expansion have been completed, Al-Musawi said.


hi bigdreamer.

sorry to bother you. but i think this thread (and the other energy related ones) are a bit messy. I do accept blame for much of the mess as I didn't take care to structure the threads "properly"

it seems that the "iraq energy projects" includes too many dissimilar sectors, in addition there is a separate thread under projects called "iraqi refining projects".

in my view there should be 4 threads:
-iraqi power production (this one for the electricity bits)
-iraqi upstream projects (this one for the oil well details)
-iraqi downstream projects (rename iraqi refining projects to this?)
-iraqi alternative energy projects (solar, wind, hydro, biofuel, waste fired etc...)


what do you think? is it possible to rearrange it? if you need any assistance i am ready to help.

^^ I think it's a good idea to split up the thread as well :)

But i think having four threads will be too confusing, especially that many formers might not know what "downstream" and "upstream" mean ! (but I personally like having a thread for each).

How about if we split it into two threads? one for Electricity sector, and one for the hydrocarbon/petrochemical sector ?

Is that aright ?

well the problem with having all the "petrochem" in one section is that iraq's petrochem sector is HUGE with many dozens of projects. its worth more than, for example, all the real estate projects combined! but they are not all restricted to a single thread. At the same time having a thread for each "oil well" is overkill.

what about calling:
"upstream" = oil drilling and exploration
"mid-stream" = oil transport and export infrastructure
"downstream" = oil refining and processing
?

the energy sectors can be in two threads, one with the "normal" (thermal / gas) power stations, and one with the alternative stuff?

do let us know your decision!

^^ yes, that would work on paper, but I hope you can see it from my side, If people post in the wrong thread, eg, someone posts about a refinery in the upstream thread etc. then it's the mods' responsibility to constantly move posts to it's 'correct' thread (and generally speaking, people don't like their posts being moved, and endup PM-ing me around it). It's just the maintenance overhead that's a concern.

however, I'm willing to give it a try and see how it works out. If it causes too much confusion, then we'd have to roll them into a single petrochem thread.

ALSO : you know that we already have a thread that you created about Refineries in the projects & construction section. How come this thread isn't used ?

yea. we have to recycle that thread as the "downstream" thread if possible. I did post in it some days ago i think (regarding the government using internal funds to build karbala refinery)

Iraq’s Oil Ministry is studying an offer submitted by a private a Saudi company to rebuild the idled Iraq-Saudi oil export pipeline, ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.
Jihad and a representative of the Saudi firm, Ali Mahir, said the offer proposed involving Japan’s Mitsubishi and a Hungarian company identified as OTV, which took part in the construction of the original 626 km (390 mile) pipeline, which had a capacity of 1.7-million barrels per day. Alsumaria TV says the proposal involves Mitsubishi along with Bulgarian and American companies.
“We welcome any cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the oil sector to enhance bilateral relations. The offer is under discussion,” Jihad said.

Iraq’s Oil Ministry is studying an offer submitted by a private a Saudi company to rebuild the idled Iraq-Saudi oil export pipeline, ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.
Jihad and a representative of the Saudi firm, Ali Mahir, said the offer proposed involving Japan’s Mitsubishi and a Hungarian company identified as OTV, which took part in the construction of the original 626 km (390 mile) pipeline, which had a capacity of 1.7-million barrels per day. Alsumaria TV says the proposal involves Mitsubishi along with Bulgarian and American companies.
“We welcome any cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the oil sector to enhance bilateral relations. The offer is under discussion,” Jihad said.

yes I read this a couple of weeks ago

do you know what happened to the pipeline. I was told that part of the pipeline was connected to the saudi internal network, (essentially annexed from Iraq) is this true?

more details can be found on the iraqoilreport.com website. I forgot exactly what's happened with the saudi section, but it was detailed there. Iraq did pay for its construction all the way to the red sea in the 1980s and it is the biggest international pipeline iraq has.

As Iraq reports the results of its recent gas auctions, the western province of Anbar is demanding more control over its potentially huge energy reserves, including the vast desert province’s Akkas reservoir.
According to Reuters, Anbar’s government last week rejected Baghdad’s plan for the auction due to the possibility that surplus gas will be exported.
Anbar’s opposition reflects deep discontent in Iraq’s Sunni heartland about the Shiite-led central government.
“We are against the approach of the central government and we will be against any contract between the central government and any company in the world,” Anbar Governor Qasim Abid said.
“We have our own vision of how to develop this [field].”
Mainly Sunni Anbar Province, controlled by Al-Qaeda in the years following the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein, has been relatively quiet since tribal sheikhs joined forces with US troops to drive out Sunni Islamist militants in 2006 and 2007.
“We demand the Oil Ministry start exploration in Anbar because it’s unfair to develop and start production from oilfields in some provinces and ignore the billions of barrels of crude we have,” Anbar provincial council leader Jassim Mohammad said.
Anbar authorities warned they would refuse to provide security to foreign firms working in Akkas and would use all means, including “civil revolt,” if Baghdad ignores their demands.

Maintenance Note :

Due to the large news content that can be categorized under this thread.
This thread will be permanently closed, instead the following threads will be created:

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IRAQ | Oil Refineries

Will contain news & updates regarding Iraq's oil refineries (of any product and scale).


IRAQ| Oil & Gas Fields Drilling and Development

Will contain news & updates regarding development of Iraq's massive oil and gas reserves. which includes export news and development.


IRAQ| Mainstream Electricity Sector
Will contain news & updates regarding : mainstream electricity generation projects (including gas and fossil fuels,hydro) , transmission and the national grid.


IRAQ | Alternative & Green Energy Sector

Sustainable and experimental / emerging technologies, such as solar, wind, thermal, etc. that make up less than 1% of the energy sector.

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Posts in this thread will be moved to one of the above threads over the coming few days.