IRAQ | Oil & Gas Fields Drilling and Development

[alankurdi]

Dr. Ashti Hawrami, Minister of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

“Kurdistan’s oil industry exports 100,000 barrels per day. There have been eight significant discoveries so far, with potential reserves estimated at 45 billion barrels.”
“Over 40 foreign companies, from 17 different countries are committed to investing some
£6.3 billion in the energy sector in the Kurdistan Region.” the governemnt estimates that Kurdistan has at least 100 trillion cubic feet of gas and the most conservative experts say at least 200 tcf maybe more. in term of metric units thats 3-6 trillion cubic metres(tcm).

http://web.krg.org/uploads/documents...s_2011__01.pdf

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by alankurdi

Dr. Ashti Hawrami, Minister of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

“Kurdistan’s oil industry exports 100,000 barrels per day. There have been eight significant discoveries so far, with potential reserves estimated at 45 billion barrels.”
“Over 40 foreign companies, from 17 different countries are committed to investing some
£6.3 billion in the energy sector in the Kurdistan Region.” the governemnt estimates that Kurdistan has at least 100 trillion cubic feet of gas and the most conservative experts say at least 200 tcf maybe more. in term of metric units thats 3-6 trillion cubic metres(tcm).

http://web.krg.org/uploads/documents...s_2011__01.pdf

mathematical riddle! so government estimates "100tcf" but conservative estimates are 200tcf ??? I thought the government were supposed to be more optimistic!

or do they mean "government estimates 100tcf" but conservative estimates "200bcf" (that is 0.2tcf) ?

[sheytanElKebir]

plot thickens further... companies' share prices rise. Shahristani says maliki misquoted... etc etc...

UPDATE 2-Iraq still wants Kurd oil deal changes-Shahristani
Mon Feb 7, 2011 4:21pm GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]
* Baghdad seeks service contracts in Kurdistan

* Maliki comments reports had sent DNO shares higher

(Adds background, quotes, details, AFP comment)

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdistan's production-sharing oil contracts with foreign firms must be turned into service contracts to win approval from Iraq's central government, Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Monday.

Shahristani, who oversees Iraq's energy sector, signalled the Baghdad government had not yet mended fences with its semi-autonomous northern region despite comments attributed to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that Iraq would honour the deals.

Shares in Norwegian oil firm DNO, which has invested in Kurdistan, had risen more than five percent on Monday on media reports of Maliki's comments, as production-sharing deals are generally seen as more favourable to investing companies.

The shares pared gains after Shahristani's remarks and were up around one percent by 1556 GMT.

The weekend report by news agency AFP seemed to catch senior Iraqi oil officials by surprise.

"In fact this was a misunderstanding and misquoting by the AFP of what the prime minister said," Shahristani told Reuters. "It did not actually represent the position of the prime minister and the Iraqi government towards this issue."

"All the contracts we (central government) have signed were service contracts and we expect that all these (Kurdish) production-sharing contracts should be amended to be service contracts in order to be approved" by Baghdad, he said.

Shahristani said the Kurdish contracts had not yet been reviewed by the central government.

Separately, a senior official close to Maliki said Iraq still had to reach agreement with Kurdish officials on the contracts.

"We have not reached a compromise," said the official, who asked not to be named.

AGENCY STANDS BY STORY

But AFP said it stood by its story.

"Mr. Maliki was not misquoted, and we stand by our story in full. In no part of our interview did Mr. Maliki suggest revising the Kurdish contracts into service agreements," said Sammy Ketz, AFP's Baghdad bureau chief, who did the interview.

Abdul Kareem Luaibi, who replaced Shahristani as oil minister when Iraq's parliament approved a new government in December, declined comment on Maliki's statements.

Exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region were recently restarted following a 15-month halt over a dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad, which had declared the Kurdish contracts with foreign companies illegal.

The AFP quoted Maliki on Saturday as saying the oil ministry had accepted the contracts because of differences between the extraction of oil in the Kurdish region and in Basra, Iraq's major production area in the south.

"There is a need for bigger efforts there, while in Basra it (oil) is closer to the surface. It's difficult to have service contracts in Kurdistan but it's normal to have them in southern Iraq," AFP quoted Maliki as saying.

Kurdish exports from two fields -- Taq Taq and Tawke -- flowed briefly in 2009 but were halted when the Iraqi government refused to pay oil companies working the fields, including Norway's DNO and Turkey's Genel Enerji.

Around 40 companies, including DNO, have invested in Kurdistan, but revenues have been curtailed by their inability to sell oil for export.

Last week, crude started to flow from the Tawke field at about 10,500 barrels per day after the two sides said they had reached a deal, a major step toward resolving fierce disputes between Iraq's majority Arabs and minority Kurds.

Kurdish prime minister Barham Salih has said he is waiting for Luaibi to visit the region to celebrate the export resumption but so far Luaibi has not made the trip. (Writing by Jim Loney, editing by Anthony Barker)

[BigDreamer]

how can they restart oil export if they "have not reached a compromise"

this story never ends..

[kurd123]

Originally Posted by BigDreamer

how can they restart oil export if they "have not reached a compromise"

this story never ends..

It's all very confusing, I don't know how maliki can be misquoted lol! I mean you can be misquoted to something a little different but saying 'it's more difficult to get oil in kurdistan than it is in basrah and therefore the contracts would be recognized' and saying 'no they will have to be in like with baghdads contracts' are so far apart, only a retard would misquote that.

[alankurdi]

shahristanis comments are personal comments and will have no impact on the flow of KRG's oil his comments have always been against the KRG oil deals no matter what , Maliki has agreed and called the contracts legal so there isnt much Shahristani can do as vice PM to cripple the deal between Baghdad and Erbil.

[sheytanElKebir]

As I highlighted in the AFP article that I had posted, maliki's statment was CONTRADICTORY (whether reported accurately or not, it didn't make sense either way). DO have a read through the article especially the highlighted bits. Its really got nothing to do with your personal animosity towards shahristani he was just stating the obvious (which I had raised here already before his comment )

[alankurdi]

then why is the oil flowing ? in that way KRG will benefit more , keep oil intact and use basra's oil , cos this what is means

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by alankurdi

then why is the oil flowing ? in that way KRG will benefit more , keep oil intact and use basra's oil , cos this what is means

that is something else, its not what i was talking about.

The AFP article is contradictoryNOT the details of the deal, which quite clearly show some oil has started flowing.

I hope that's clearer.

Now if you have info about what are the details of the deal... then please post, because it is a mystery to me!

[alankurdi]

to be honest shaytan i dont have any further details but from what is see is another shahristani failed attempt at Kurdish oil flow , he needs to re-think his hatred thoughts against KRG and see the benefit of iraqi people not just his personal hatred . if kurdistan's oil contracts are deemed illegal again , then it means KRG's oil will stay intact while using basra's oil to develop KR even more , does this sound like a good plan to you ?!.

[alankurdi]

Brussels symposium highlights significance of Kurdistan oil for West



Brussels, Feb. 10 (AKnews) - Potential energy routes and energy security were discussed in a meeting in Brussels Thursday, where the participants highlighted the Turkish attempts to monopolize the Energy supply for the EU as well as the significance of the Kurdish energy potentials for the West.

nvestment Company of Oil in IraqThe event organized by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and the Transatlantic Institute gathered more than 50 diplomats, politicians and international experts.

The speakers Louis Bono (Counselor for Energy in the United States Mission to the EU), Holger Krahmer (Member of the European Parliament from Alliance of Liberals and Democrats) and Jason Isaacson (Global Jewish Advocacy) presented the different solutions for Europe’s energy needs. The speakers stressed the importance of diversification of energy sources and alternative lines of transmission in order to reduce the energy dependence of Europe and the West.

Bono from the United States Mission to the EU emphasized the important potential of the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas resources for the West and pointed out that only a sustainable solution of the Kurdish and other ethnic and neighborhood problems in the region can guarantee the security of the energy corridors.

The oil-rich Kurdistan Region is located in northern Iraq and enjoys semi-autonomous governance.

Earlier this year, January 2011, former Austrian Chancellor Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel said Europe should also diversify sources of energy supply by “looking, for instance, in the Federal Kurdish Region (Iraq).”

“Europe needs additional pipelines and alternative energy distribution flows. The Kurdish part of Iraq may become alternative partner of Europe.”

The participants in the Brussels’s Thursday meeting also alluded to the constant attempts of countries like Turkey to monopolize the energy supply for EU. They deemed while Turkey is still challenging internal issues especially the war a Kurdish faction of its population, this can be a serious threat to the security of the energy transmission lines.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has staged war against Turkey since 1984 allegedly to campaign for the recognition of the ethnic rights of 20 million Kurds in Turkey, overlooked in the Turkish constitution.

Currently, Kurdistan has a capacity of 100,000 bpd and is expected to develop its fields to increase the output to 200,000, according to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Natural Resource, Ashti Hawrami.
The revenues of the Kurdistan oil import are transferred to the Iraqi government’s accounts.

RWE, a key shareholder in the Nabucco project which is aimed to bring up to 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe through the Turkish lands- announced it had signed a cooperation deal with the KRG to develop and design its "domestic and export gas transportation infrastructure... creating a route to market for Kurdistan's major gas reserves."

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/217417/

[Persi]

Japan’s JOGMEC to invest in Gharraf Oilfield

11 February 2011

Reuters reports that the state-run Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) said on Thursday it expects to provide about 16.3 billion yen ($198 million) of capital in 2011-2012 to Iraq’s Gharaf [Gharraf, Garraf] oilfield development project.

In return, JOGMEC said it would take a stake of less than 50 percent in Japan Petroleum Exploration’s (Japex) wholly owned subsidiary that is taking part in the project.

Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas holds 45 percent of the oilfield development and production service project, Japex 30 percent, and Iraq 25 percent.

The consortium, which expects to invest up to $8 billion, expects oil production to start in 2012 at 50,000 barrels per day, rising to 230,000 bpd of plateau output from 2016.

In a statement, JOGMEC said: “It is expected that this project will contribute to strengthen and deepen a relationship with Iraq, as well as reinforce Japan’s energy security”.

[Persi]

Contracts Awarded at Badra Oilfield

14 February 2011

Gazprom Neft has completed the tendering process for the front end engineering design (FEED) for the Badra oil field in Iraq, with the contract being awarded to French Technip, according to Penn Energy.

The project preparation is expected to be completed by June 2011.

The tender award decision has also been taken for the road and well site construction, as well as for the construction of a permanent camp. The Iraqi ALMCO was selected as the contractor in both cases.

In January 2011, the mobilisation of manpower and equipment was completed, and geological engineering surveys and future roads laying-out were launched.

In accordance with the latest instructions of the Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq, the ITT submissions for well drilling and integrated project management in terms of well construction were delivered to the state Iraqi North Oil Company (NOC) and the Ministry of Oil for approval and declaration of winners. The commencement of works is scheduled for April – May 2011.

[sheytanElKebir]

interesting news on the export lines...

Syria (Homs) – Syria’s Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Soufian Allaw said that Syria and Iraq agreed on setting up a technical work team to check all stations and intersections of the Iraqi oil pipeline inside the two countries to specify the requirements to re-run it.

Inspecting with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul-Karim Loaibi the National Training Center in Homs province and other vital areas, Minister Allaw said the field trip is to inspect the fourth station of transferring crude oil and re-activate the Iraqi oil pipeline to Banyas refinery and Syrian ports.

Minister Allaw added that reactivating the pipeline takes between a year and a year and a half depending on the situation of its requirements, pointing out that the old oil pipelines in the Syrian territories are pumping till now oil produced by the Euphrates oil company and Der Ezzor oil company to Banyas refinery and ports.

For his part, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Loaibi said the trip focused on rehabilitating the old system of transferring Iraqi oil to Banyas and establishing a new system.

The trip also focused on the issue of transferring Iraqi gas to Syria and transferring Iranian gas through Iraqi lands to exportation ports in Syria.
(SANA)

[MKTJ]

So the Iranian government keep bombing the Kurdish villages and supporting militias ect...

And the respond is helping Iran to transfer gas through Iraq?!

[BigDreamer]

Syria (Homs) – Syria’s Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Soufian Allaw said that Syria and Iraq agreed on setting up a technical work team to check all stations and intersections of the Iraqi oil pipeline inside the two countries to specify the requirements to re-run it.

Inspecting with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul-Karim Loaibi the National Training Center in Homs province and other vital areas, Minister Allaw said the field trip is to inspect the fourth station of transferring crude oil and re-activate the Iraqi oil pipeline to Banyas refinery and Syrian ports.

Minister Allaw added that reactivating the pipeline takes between a year and a year and a half depending on the situation of its requirements, pointing out that the old oil pipelines in the Syrian territories are pumping till now oil produced by the Euphrates oil company and Der Ezzor oil company to Banyas refinery and ports.

For his part, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Loaibi said the trip focused on rehabilitating the old system of transferring Iraqi oil to Banyas and establishing a new system.

The trip also focused on the issue of transferring Iraqi gas to Syria and transferring Iranian gas through Iraqi lands to exportation ports in Syria.
(SANA)

yallah.. get moving already !! been 2 years of just talk, and no action

but it's okay, the production is no where ready anyways..

[BigDreamer]

Originally Posted by MKTJ

So the Iranian government keep bombing the Kurdish villages and supporting militias ect...

And the respond is helping Iran to transfer gas through Iraq?!

it's always complicated with Iran.. don't forget, the oil on the Iran/Iraq border and the shat-al-arab dispute has still not been resolved, even after all these years..

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by MKTJ

So the Iranian government keep bombing the Kurdish villages and supporting militias ect...

And the respond is helping Iran to transfer gas through Iraq?!

no this deal is PRIMARILY about reopening the Iraq-syria oil pipeline as and when Iraqi exports catch up.

the other biggie, is Iraqi-Saudi Pipeline (its a 1.5M barrel/day pipe!)... so far nothing on this, the saudis are not co-operating (even though Iraq paid for its construction in the 1980s).

[MKTJ]

Originally Posted by BigDreamer

it's always complicated with Iran.. don't forget, the oil on the Iran/Iraq border and the shat-al-arab dispute has still not been resolved, even after all these years..

Exactly, the Iraqi government should set some rules for Iran to be able to pump the gas through Iraq. One of the rules is that all these issues (shared oil fields, shat alarab ect...) must be solved in advance!

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by MKTJ

Exactly, the Iraqi government should set some rules for Iran to be able to pump the gas through Iraq. One of the rules is that all these issues (oil shared fields, shat alarab ect...) must be solved in advance!

no MKTJ. that's not how its done.

You let them spend their money and build their pipeline and work for a couple of years, then when they do something bad, you block it

you get a lot more leverage that way. REALPOLITIK.