IRAQ | Oil & Gas Fields Drilling and Development

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by TERZIev

how many % oil have Iraq from world oil ?

about 10% (depends if you include shale of course). And Iraq is only now beginning to look for new sources after a break of more than 30 years, but I don't think it will be more than 15% ever.

[TERZIev]

10-15% is very good to make iraq more and more modern

[sheytanElKebir]

February 2011. Iraq reaches a new post 2003 record with average above 2.2M barrels oer day export with an average price of 90-95USD bringing in more than $6Bn in revenue for the month:

$200M per day
around $8 per capita per day
about $40 per day for an "average" family of 5
about $1200 per month for an "average" family of 5.


puts things in perspective.

[sheytanElKebir]

some interesting tidbits.

Budget 2011: Who Gets What

By Ruba Husari

The Iraqi 2011 federal budget voted by parliament today includes two items that are related to payments to oil companies. It stipulates a payment of $1.75 billion as participation in the production cost of oil exported including under contracts of international oil companies signed with the Kurdistan region. The second item is an allocation of $2.73 billion for investment projects of international oil companies.

The budget assumes the export of an average of 2.2 million barrels per day, including 100,000 b/d from the Kurdish region and assumes an oil price of $76.5/bbl.

Both items are novelties under the 2011 budget. Participation in the production costs of oil exported is not new by itself but the inclusion of dues to international oil companies working in Kurdistan is a first. In the past, this item consisted of operating expenditures of the national oil companies i.e North Oil Co and South Oil Co which were traditionally allocated just under $2 per barrels produced as their operational budget. The rest of their budget came from selling crude to the domestic market i.e. to refineries and gas to the local gas companies.

Payments for IOCs projects represent capital expenditures as well as the fee per incremental barrel produced, as agreed in the contracts signed in the first bid round once their output hits 10% above the base production line. At the moment, this involves three operators: BP, ExxonMobil, and ENI.

How allocations to companies in the Kurdistan region are calculated is a mystery. Sources familiar with the agreements reached in January, which allowed the KRG to restart exports, tell me Baghdad agreed to pay the KRG 50% of the price of oil exported. On the other hand the chairman of the oil and energy committee in parliament Adnan al-Janabi said in an interview in parliament in Baghdad he’s aware of two agreements signed by Oil Minister Abdul Karim al-Luaybi, including one in his previous capacity as deputy oil minister. To his mind, those agreements offer only an interim solution, which confirms the concept of a lump sum payment to the KRG equal to 50% of the price of the Kurdistan oil exported by Somo, to allow the ministry of natural resources in Erbil to pay the producing companies for their costs and presumably their share of profit as well under the signed production sharing contracts.

It is assumed that the interim solution stipulates that once Baghdad and Erbil agree on the final fate of the oil contracts the KRG had signed over the years, the accounts would be squared off. But it could be a long time before they are. Every year, the federal budget contains articles that require the KRG to transfer to the federal ministry of finance all federal revenues collected by the region since 2004. To date, this has never happened.

just as I suspected... we're getting raped.

let us see.

For a "barrel of oil" from Iraq at $100/barrel. we pay:
$2 for the OPEX
$17 to KRG
$81 for the Iraqi budget.

The KRG fields on the other hand give us:
$50 (KRG and oil companies fees)
$50 for the Iraqi budget.

$50 vs $81 USD per barrel. At the stated "future" capacity of KRG of 250k/day @ $100/barrel that would be a LOSS of:
$31x250k = $7.75M/day
$2.83Bn per year of lower income.


lets not even talk about the "federal fees and taxes" for the last 7 years!

[kurd123]

As the capacity increases the % paid to the companies by the KRG decreases.

[alankurdi]

new oil field found in Kurdistan again

a Hungarian oil company "kali gran" announced it has discovered oil between Khalifan and Harir sub-districts and drilling work will soon begin.

the governor of Sharade district stated the company has brought in all the drilling equipments to commence drilling .

he further said the company has signed the contract 6 months ago with KRG natural resources minister .

he also said the same company discovered oil in the town of Akre-Bejil and according to the company this oil field is the continuous chain of oil fielf stretching from Akre to Khalifan.

Khalifan district locates near the town of Soran which is located 92 kms north west of Erbil.


http://www.aknews.com/ku/aknews/2/222618/

[alankurdi]

PUKmedia 2011-03-04 11:36:41

The book of 2011 Gas & Oil was published and introduced March 3 at a ceremony in Rotana Hotel in Kurdish capital Erbil.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Barham Salih, Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami, Interior Minister Karim Sinjari, foreign consuls, a number of company managers and oil experts attended the ceremony.

It is estimated the Kurdish Region owns 45 billion barrels of crude oil and 100 to 200 trillion cubes of natural gas, Hawrami declared. The oil export of Kurdistan Region has reached 100000 barrels a day and KRG is determined to increase this figure to 1 million barrels per day before 2015, he added. Hawrami also anticipated that outstanding problems concerning oil export between Erbil and Baghdad would be resolved in the near future.

[Persi]

Exxon to Hit West Qurna Target in Weeks

04 March 2011

.Reuters reports that ExxonMobil is expected to raise production at Iraq’s West Qurna I oilfield by 10 percent over the agreed baseline this month or in early April.

When asked when Exxon would hit its initial production target in West Qurna, Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, head of the Oil Ministry’s licensing and contracting office, told Reuters,”God willing, during this month or start of April”.

That would qualify Exxon and its partners to start recovering investment costs, Ameedi said.

ExxonMobil and partner Shell won a contract to develop the 8.7-billion-barrel West Qurna I field. The group aims to boost output to 2.825 million bpd after setting baseline production at 244,000 bpd.

An oil source said on Thursday that Exxon has already managed to hit its initial output target in West Qurna by boosting production to more than 268,000 bpd. The increase is being examined by the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

Higher production rates must be sustained for 30 days before the firms are able to recover development costs.

[Persi]

Baiji Refinery ‘Back to Normal’

04 March 2011.

A spokesman for Iraq’s Oil Ministry has told AFP that production levels at the Baiji [Bayji, Beiji] oil refinery returned to normal on Friday, just six days after being damaged in terrorist bombing.

Assem Jihad said “the damaged unit restarted production and today recovered its normal production level of 150,000 bpd”.

The refinery, Iraq’s largest, was built in 1982 and is located 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Baghdad. It produces 205,000 barrels per day, or 35 percent of Iraq’s refining capacity which, excluding Kurdish Iraq, stands at 550,000 bpd.

[Persi]

Sonangol to Start Work on Ninewa Oilfields

14 March 2011.

Angolan oil company Sonangol started work on Thursday at the Najma [Najmah] and Qaiyara [Qaiyarah] oil fields in Ninewa, and it will start to dig wells in April, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq.

In the second licensing round in 2009, Sonangol was the only company to submit bids for these fields. In both cases, the company reduced it’s remuneration fee after further negotiations.

Qaiyarah has a plateau production target of 120,000 barrels per day, with known reserves of 807 million barrels, while Najma has a target of 110,000.

[Persi]

Iraq to Raise Oil Exports to Compensate for Sabotage

15 March 2011.

Iraq’s Oil Ministry has completed repairs to the damaged oil pipeline carrying crude from north Iraq’s Kirkuk fields through Turkey, and pumping resumed after mid-night on Tuesday morning, the Oil Ministry’s official spokesman has confirmed.

“The Oil Ministry has completed repairs in the damaged Iraqi-Turkish oil pipeline, exporting crude oil to the Turkish Ceyhan terminal on the Mediterranean, that was damaged [by a bomb attack] in northern Iraq’s al-Hadhar area, which hampered oil exports,” Assem Jihad told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Tuesday.

Jihad said the repairs have covered the replacement of part of the pipeline that was seriously damaged in the blast, as well as closing leaks on some parts of the pipeline.

“Operations to fill in the pipeline began at 12.30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, whilst full pumping resumed with a capacity of 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), in order to cover the shortage caused by the halt of pumping over the past few days, in order to fill the storage tanks in the Turkish Ceyhan Terminal and prepare them for exporting oil through the Mediterranean terminals.”

Emad al-Baqer, North Oil Company‘s head of production, told Bloomberg that Iraq will start exporting as much as 600,000 barrels of crude to Turkey’s Mediterranean port “to compensate for the shortage in Ceyhan due to the forced stoppage”.

[Persi]

Shell Boss Expects Iraqi Gas Deal ‘Soon’

15 March 2011.

Oil giant Shell hopes its plan to use the huge amount of associated gas expected to come from Iraq’s oil output growth over the next decade will be approved soon, the company’s chief executive Peter Voser said on Tuesday

According to the report from Reuters, he did not clarify what he meant by ‘soon’. “We have made good progress”, he said, “a little bit slower than anticipated”.

Iraq has been working to finalise a $12 billion [14.6 trillion Iraqi dinar] joint venture between the state-owned South Gas Co, Shell and Mitsubishi since an initial agreement was signed in 2008.

Although the previous Iraqi government approved a deal in principle, it has yet to be finalised.

Iraq flares around 700 million cubic feet of gas every day at its southern oilfields — energy it could harness to generate electricity and end the chronic power blackouts that still plague the country almost eight years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Voser said he particularly saw plenty of demand for power in the Basra area of Iraq.

[BigDreamer]

Originally Posted by Persi

Iraq to Raise Oil Exports to Compensate for Sabotage

15 March 2011.

Iraq’s Oil Ministry has completed repairs to the damaged oil pipeline carrying crude from north Iraq’s Kirkuk fields through Turkey, and pumping resumed after mid-night on Tuesday morning, the Oil Ministry’s official spokesman has confirmed.

“The Oil Ministry has completed repairs in the damaged Iraqi-Turkish oil pipeline, exporting crude oil to the Turkish Ceyhan terminal on the Mediterranean, that was damaged [by a bomb attack] in northern Iraq’s al-Hadhar area, which hampered oil exports,” Assem Jihad told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Tuesday.

Jihad said the repairs have covered the replacement of part of the pipeline that was seriously damaged in the blast, as well as closing leaks on some parts of the pipeline.

“Operations to fill in the pipeline began at 12.30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, whilst full pumping resumed with a capacity of 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), in order to cover the shortage caused by the halt of pumping over the past few days, in order to fill the storage tanks in the Turkish Ceyhan Terminal and prepare them for exporting oil through the Mediterranean terminals.”

Emad al-Baqer, North Oil Company‘s head of production, told Bloomberg that Iraq will start exporting as much as 600,000 barrels of crude to Turkey’s Mediterranean port “to compensate for the shortage in Ceyhan due to the forced stoppage”.

can someone please explain this to me, I'm a little confused ..

where is Iraq getting the extra production capapcity ! i thought the normal export through turkey is already using our maximum capacity.. if that's not the case... why arn't we normally exporting at this rate?

[sheytanElKebir]

nothing new here...

AMMAN, Jordan—The Iraqi Oil Ministry has presented a new plan that would raise the country's crude oil production capacity to about 6.5 million barrels a day by the end of 2014, from 2.6 million barrels a day now.

The plan, which will be submitted to the cabinet in Baghdad for approval in few days, also sets a target to raise associated and nonassociated natural-gas-production capacity to 4.5 billion cubic feet a day by the end of 2014, from the current 1.7 billion cubic feet a day.

The plan, prepared by top officials in the ministry including Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaiby, also set an ambitious target to raise the country's refining capacity from its current 523,000 barrels a day to 700,000 barrels a day.

Iraq's oil-export capacity will rise to 5.65 million barrels a day by the end of 2014, up from 1.890 million barrels a day in actual exports last year, the plan stated.

The plan is based on 15 oil and gas deals that Baghdad has signed over the past 16 months with some of the largest international companies to upgrade one of the world's largest oil fields.

Iraq sits atop an estimated 143 billion barrels of oil, the world's third-largest proven reserves. But the country has struggled to lift its output amid years of sanctions and war before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Looting, underinvestment and political gridlock after the invasion slowed development.

Momentum appeared to have started to pick up since last year, when international oil companies started investing billions of dollars to boost output in Iraq's prized oil fields. The oil ministry announced earlier this year that the country's crude-oil-output capacity had increased by 300,000 barrels a day from oil fields in southern Iraq.

"We are hoping to reach a production target of 11.5 million barrels a day from these deals," Mr. Luaiby said.

Some observers, however, believe that Iraq's official oil production forecast is unrealistic. They say the companies will be hindered by sobering security, poor infrastructure and political instability.

"The figure 6.5 million barrels a day to be reached in 2014 is too ambitious," said Jean-Luc Amos, a senior analyst at the London-based KBC Energy Economics. "The more realistic dates for achieving that figure would be between 2015 and 2020," he added.

Also crucial to the expansion of Iraq's crude oil output is a massive, shared water-injection scheme that would sustain pressure in the country's giant southern oil fields. The ministry hasn't started yet serious construction of the project. Exxon Mobil Corp., which won a deal to develop Iraq's supergiant West Qurna Phase 1 oil field, is leading a steering committee that's exploring how to build the system, which could use up to 10 million barrels a day of sea water.

The other setback to a production increase is export capacity. Iraq hasn't yet had the export outlets to handle that amount of crude oil exports.

"Why should they be producing that much of crude oil if they don't have the export facilities to sell them," Mr. Amos asked.

Oil Minister Luaiby said his ministry is working to expand export facilities to handle rising crude output. Two floating loading terminals, each with an export capacity of 800,000 barrels a day, off Basra are expected to be completed by the end of this year. Current export capacity from Basra terminals is at 1.75 million barrels a day, he said. While export capacity of the volatile northern export pipeline to the Turkish Ceyhan port is standing at 650,000 barrels a day, the line is being damaged by rebels almost on a monthly basis.

[sheytanElKebir]

gas exploration blocks up for auction in November as planned.

need the gas ASAP! what the hell has happened with the shell Associated Gas deal?

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Iraq plans to auction 12 exploration blocks, believed to contain mostly gas reserves, in November as part of the country's efforts to capture natural gas for electricity generation, the country's oil minister said Tuesday.

Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said 70% of these blocks are believed to contain gas reserves only, with the rest containing oil and gas reserves.

"We think that these 12 blocks contain at least 29 trillion cubic feet of [non-associated] gas," the minister told reporters in Baghdad.

Iraq has in the last few years held three bidding rounds to auction off 15 of the country's most prized oil and gas fields.

The Iraqi central government needs to boost its gas production and build more gas-fired power plants to increase its power output, currently at 6,500 megawatts, which is less than half the country's needs.

Iraq, which has natural gas reserves totaling 126.7 trillion cubic feet, according to official figures, produces only around 1.6 billion cubic feet a day, half of which is being flared. However, the country has ambitions to become one of the world's biggest liquefied natural gas exporters after meeting its domestic needs

[Persi]

Eni Interested in Investing in Nassiriyah Oilfield

26 March 2011.

Italy’s energy giant Eni is still interested in investing in the Nassiriya oilfield, Italy’s ambassador to Iraq has said.

Ambassador Gerardo Caranti was visiting Iraq to evaluate the progress of several projects and to study future suggestions.

“We have several projects in Iraq at a cost of more than $2 billion,” he told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“Eni still interested in investing in Thi-Qar [Dhi Qar], mainly in the Nassiriya oilfield, as my country imports 15% of Iraq’s oil output,” he said, adding that “its important to complete old projects before starting new ones.”

Regarding Italian companies’ investments in the province, the Ambassador said “big companies have security personnel and are able too come and work in Nassiriya and our government is ready to support small companies to invest in Thi-Qar, mainly those which are relatively safe.”

He also said that Italy would open a consulate in Basra.

[Persi]

Iraq Negotiating $500m New Pipelines

28 March 2011.

Iraq’s state-run South Oil Company is holding talks with international oil companies to build three pipelines worth up to $500 million [600 billion Iraqi dinars], according to a report from Dow Jones Newswires.

SOC’s director-general said on Monday that the intention was to link key oil fields to the export system in southern Iraq.

“We are talking to CNPC [China National Petroleum Corporation], BP, Eni and others to build three pipelines,” Dhiaa Jaafar told Dow Jones Newswires in an exclusive interview in his office in Basra.

Jaafar said the three lines would link the Rumaila North, Tuba and Nahr Ben Umar fields with oil deposits in the Faw peninsula, before crude oil is shipped via the sea terminals in the Gulf.

The length of the pipelines will range from 105 kilometer to 145 kilometers each, he said.

Many of Iraq’s oil pipelines are old and eroded.

[Kamaran]

Rudaw net ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan:

Iraqi Kurdistan’s top natural resources official has affirmed that the semiautonomous region is “very wealthy,” with present reserves of about 200 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and at least 70 years’ worth of oil.

At a recent event to launch the ministry’s annual publication, Oil and Gas Year, Natural Resources Minister Ashty Hawrami said he expected Iraqi Kurdistan to be producing 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) by the year’s end

“We now have an agreement with the Baghdad government to export [at least] 100,000 bpd from Kurdistan, but this number could rise to 200,000 by the end of this year,” said Hawrami, adding that Iraqi Kurdistan’s total production by the year’s end was planned to be at 300,000 bpd, a third of which would not be exported.

Hawrami did not seem concerned about ongoing disagreements over oil policies between the Kurdistan region and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Husein Shahristani.

“The daily profit from the Kurdistan region’s oil is now $US10 million, and no one is going to refuse such money,” said Hawrami. “We have an agreement with the Iraqi government and Prime Minister Nuri Maliki, so Shahristani is free to say what he wishes. He cannot influence or cause any harm to the export of Kurdish oil.”

The minister emphasized that Kurdistan was very wealthy in terms of oil and gas reserves.

“I can say that we now have around 70 billion barrels of oil reserves, which will be sufficient to cover the Kurdistan region’s needs for the next 70 years,” he said.

Furthermore, Hawrami said there were presently 200 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in the region, and this amount would easily supply the needs of all the factories and households in the region, including the cities bordering Iraqi Kurdistan.

He said the extra gas would be used to produce a further 5000 megawatts of electricity within the next two years.

“The use of [natural gas] is an essential step towards eradicating the electricity problem in Kurdistan permanently,” said Hawrami.

Every day, more foreign companies were arriving to exploit the oil and gas resources of the region, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had signed several agreements with such companies to assist in the development of this field, said Hawrami, adding that the problems between Baghdad and the KRG regarding foreign oil companies and their contracts and costs were on the way to being solved.

[Persi]

Petrofac Awarded $240m Shell Contract in Iraq

31 March 2011.

Petrofac, the international oil & gas facilities service provider, has confirmed it has been awarded a contract in excess of US$240 million by Shell Iraq Petroleum Development B.V. for developments in the Majnoon Field, Southern Iraq.

Under the competitively tendered contract, Petrofac is providing engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction management services for the development of a new early production system comprising two trains each with capacity for 50,000 barrels of oil per day, along with upgrading of existing brownfield facilities. Work on the project began in mid-2010 and is expected to complete during the fourth quarter of 2012.

Ayman Asfari, Petrofac group chief executive, said:

“Majnoon is one of Iraq’s largest developments and we are delighted to be working with Shell to assist them with unlocking the field’s potential. Iraq’s geographic location, adjacent to many of our existing areas of operation, made it a natural market for the group as we continue to broaden our geographic footprint.“

Subramanian Sarma, managing director, Petrofac Engineering & Construction adds:

“Prior to beginning work with Shell in Iraq last year, we had spent many months preparing in order to achieve a sufficient level of readiness across several aspects of our business operations. All of our activities are underpinned by our strong commitment to safety, quality and integrity and alongside Shell and the local community, we are working to deliver this project to the standards our customers and stakeholders expect from us.“

[sheytanElKebir]

Iraq Deputy PM: Total Iraqi Oil Reserves Now Around 173 Billion Bbl


PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Iraq's proven oil reserves total around 173 billion barrels, Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said Wednesday.

Only 143 billion barrels of these reserves have been fully audited, he said. Another 30 billion barrels located in the Kurdish region of Iraq are considered proven but haven't yet been fully audited, he said at the 12th International Oil Summit in Paris.