IOCs and the Future of Basrah

By Thamir A.Ghadhban

I believe the governor’s views are quite right, very positive and give assurances to the IOCs who signed contracts to develop oil fields in the Basrah governorate. The message is clear to the IOCs to engage with the local community and make an effort to reach out. It’s true that, and in spite of the monopolistic and concessionary nature of the old contracts IOCs had with Iraq, Basrah people did benefit from work opportunities, housing and other initiatives such as social and sports clubs …etc. One has to admit here that the priority is employment with Basrah population exceeding two million and high unemployment rate. The city has been deprived of work opportunities for decades though there are skilled and…

2nd Bid Round Results

By abdulzahra

In response to Mr. I Chalabi’s comments, with all due respect I disagree with his remarks for the following reasons:

There is certainly warranted rush to award all the fields included in both rounds, and more to come; a wider perspective on the role of oil in Iraq’s future is being lost. After years of misrule and total bad management coupled with the effects of sanctions, and the post-2003 violence, Iraq has been left as the poorest Arab country. No-one would deny Iraq’s urgent need for investment.The country needs help from foreign firms to boost production because some of its major oil fields suffer from old age, previous bad reservoir management and need modern technology to check their deterioration. The service…

2nd Bid Round Results

By ichalabi

There was certainly an unwarranted rush by the government to award all the fields included in both rounds totalling 27 although they could not get offers for some of the smaller ones and the reasons for Kirkuk and Bai Hassan are more related to Kurdish objections than anything else..
I do not attribute that to the wish of Maliky to gain popular support for the elections as the absolute majority of Iraqis are unaware of the implications and pay more attentions to necessaties of life. If any, many Iraqis resent the return of foreign oil companies. I will not rule out other reasons for pushing such awards and it will take a much larger space and time to argue..

To me all…

Who will be operating where in Iraq in 2010

By Ruba Husari

Field                               Operator -Partners

Rumaila                                     BP – CNPC
West Qurna-Phase 1                   Exxon Mobil – Royal Dutch Shell
West Qurna – Phase 2                Lukoil – Statoil
Zubair                                      Eni – Oxy, Kogas
Majnoon                                  Royal Dutch Shell – Petronas
Halfaya              …