Iraq Key Projects and Business Highligfhts
In 2012, Iraq has been the theater of strategic step changes for most of the companies depending on their profile as international oil companies, national oil companies, small and mid-cap oil companies.
The national oil companies, such as Gazprom, Lukoil, PetroChina, Petronas, were moving into the active development of the technical services contracts (TSC) signed with Iraq Government.
Despite the low remuneration fees they had offered during the licences rounds, the national oil companies give priority to the volume of production to supply their respective home country.
The international oil companies, such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total, ran into the Iraq Province of Kurdistan to sign production sharing contracts (PSC) in conditions much more attractive than the technical services contracts (TSC) proposed by Bagdad.
This switch of the majors created tensions between the Kurdistan Province and the Iraq Government, but so far all parties managed to find a reasonable deal to share revenues.
In parallel the small and mid-cap oil companies were pioneering the exploration of the undeveloped oil and gas resources of the Kurdistan region.
For some of them such as Genel Energy, the sudden interest of the majors in the region, generated a flow of farm-in and farm-out agreements providing small and mid-cap oil companies with golden goodwill on their acreage licenses
Far from Baghdad, the South region around Basra and the North of Iraq in the Kurdistan Province are now running into business as usual to ramp up oil and gas production in Iraq and attract more capital expenditure.
Lukoil selects WorleyParsons for West Qurna-2
November 2012, OAO Lukoil (Lukoil) selected the Australian engineering company WorleyParsons to provide project management services (PMS) on the next three years for the West Qurna-2 oil field development project in southern Iraq.
Discovered in 1973, the West Qurna-2 oilfield is the second largest undeveloped field in the world.
Located 65 kilometers northwest of Basra, West Qurna-2 holds 14 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) mostly concentrated in two pay grounds: Mishrif and Yamama.
BP and Petrochina work on scenarios on Iraq Rumaila
In June 2009, the international oil company BP and the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC or PetroChina) were awarded the technical services contract (TSC)for the giant Rumaila oil field in the south of Iraq, closed to the Kuwait border.
BP discovered the Rumaila oil field in 1953, but had to drop it by the nationalization under Saddam Hussein’s reign.
With estimated reserves in place of 17 million barrels and covering 80 kilometers long by 20 kilometers wide, the giant Rumaila represents 12% of Iraq total reserves and ranks as the fourth largest crude oil field in the world.
Genel to invest $2.5 billion into Miran field project
Genel Energy is considering a $2.5 billion gas central processing facility to turn Mirangas field into production.
The Miran natural gas field is located in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and had been awarded through a production sharing contract (PSC) by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to the junior company Heritage Oil (Heritage) in 2007.
The production sharing contract is based on a licensed area of 1,015 square kilometers.
Iraq and Kurdistan agree on oil payment
In November 2011, the Turkish company Genel Energy International Ltd merged withVallares PLC to become the largest oil and gas company operating in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Renamed Genel Energy, the new company enlisted theLondon Stock Exchange (GENL).
For both companies the purpose of this merger was to reinforce their position in the Kurdistan region of Iraqto prepare further growth with the acquisition of new oil and gas acreage and speed up the development of their existing assets.
Petronas call for bid on Gharraf Gas Treatment Plant
The Malaysian national oil company, Petronas, Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex)and South Oil Company from Iraq, are moving one the first phase of the development of the Gharraf, or Garraf, oil and gas field in southern Iraq.
Gharraf is the fifth largest oil field in Iraq with estimated 1 billion barrels reserves,where the partners share working interest as following:
