Iraqi Firm Forges Ahead With Drilling Plan Despite Potential War

27 February 2003

Unfazed by the current US military buildup and the potential risk to rigs from air raids or invading forces, Iraq’s Oil Drilling Co. (ODC) is forging ahead with drilling across the country’s oil fields in an attempt to beat its record of last year.

But separate activities by foreign drillers under the UN’s oil-for-food program have been hit by the threat of war, with international companies either withdrawing or preparing to do so.

In 2002, ODC — one of 15 companies under the umbrella of the oil ministry — drilled 50 new wells and more than 100 rehabilitation wells in the northern and southern fields. It has a target of boosting that figure to 72 this year, a company official…

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Bai Hassan . Buzurgan . drilling . Ein Zalah . FAka . Khabbaz . Khurmala . Kirkuk . Lukoil . Majnoon . Naft Khanah . Nahr bin Umar . rigs . Rumaila . Scop. . Tatneft . TPAO . West Qurna . Zarubezhneft 2003

Iraq Targets Pipelines, LNG for Natural Gas Development

24 February 2003

Having missed the boat on sales of natural gas by pipeline to Turkey, despite signing a memorandum of understanding in 1996, Iraqi officials are now drawing up plans to enter the broader international gas market.

These include proposals to join a regional gas pipeline network, as well as construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in southern Iraq.

Boosting Iraq’s natural gas reserves and export capabilities is one of the top priorities in a newly launched 10-year plan drawn up by the Oil Ministry.

“There is a trend around the world to expand the use of natural gas for economic and environmental, reasons which we think we should be part of. World demand for gas is growing and we think…

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Akkas . Arab Pipeline Project . Ceyhan . Chemchemal . gas . Ghadban . Jaria Pika . Khashm al-Ahmar . Kirkuk . Kuwait . LNG . Mansuriya . North Rumaila . SPC . Tel Gazal . Turkey 2003

Despite Crisis, Iraq Outlines Grand Oil Plan

21 February 2003

Unfazed by the prospect of an imminent war, Iraqi oil officials are forging ahead with a 10-year plan drawn up last year, which aims to bring on stream early oil production from discovered but not-yet-developed fields, as well as launch an ambitious oil and gas exploration program to boost proven reserves.

The 10-year plan, which stretches through 2012, aims at almost doubling oil production capacity in the first six to seven years, from a current official level of 3.2 million barrels per day to 6 million b/d, the oil ministry’s director general of planning at the Iraqi oil ministry Thamer al-Ghadban told International Oil Daily in Baghdad this week.

The early development program includes key fields allocated to or negotiated…

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East Baghdad . Ghadban . Gharraf . Halfaya . Majnoon . Nahr bin Umar . Nasiriyah . oil-for-food . Pertamina . Ratawi . Russia . sanctions . Tatneft . TotalFinaElf . UN . western desert . Zarubezhneft 2003

Iraq Favors Transparent Process for Future Upstream Bidding

22 October 2003

Iraqi oil ministry officials favor open bidding for any future contracts for oil fields and exploration blocks, embracing both companies involved in previous negotiations and new contenders, mainly US majors for whom Iraq was off-limits.

“We have proposals that we are formulating, but that still need to be submitted for approval by the oil minister and the political echelons in Iraq,” Natik al-Bayati, senior adviser at the oil ministry and an old hand at negotiations with foreign companies, told International Oil Daily in Geneva on Tuesday.

According to the ambitious plans, which al-Bayati said are personal suggestions, the Iraqi oil ministry would prepare data packages and model contracts by the first quarter of 2004, and allocate the first fields or…

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Al-Ahdab . Amara . Bayati . CNPC . Ghadban . Lukoil . Nur . PetroVietnam . West Qurna . western desert 2003