Ashti Hawrami

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s minister of natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, spoke to Ruba Husari in Erbil late July on the latest developments in Kurdistan’s upstream and downstream sector, the smuggling controversy, differences with Baghdad over crude exports and the fate of the federal hydrocarbon law.

Q. What’s the status of the different contracts signed so far with the KRG and how is work progressing on the ground?

A. We have 40 companies working in exploration and production, and a large number of service providers to go with that. They all have their individual contracts, and minimum obligations under production sharing contracts that they signed. There are 10-12 oil rigs in operation at the moment. There are 4-5 seismic crews active…

…

Ashti Hawrami . auction . Barham Salih . Basrah . Bazyan refinery . constitution . DFI . DNO . Dohuk . elections . exports . fuel oil . hydrocarbon law . Iran . iraq oil . Kalak refinery . Kar Group . Kirkuk . KRG . KRG hydrocarbon law . KRG model contract . Mosul . naphtha . NOC . Nouri al-Maliki . oil ministry . Opec . production . production sharing . revenue sharing . Rumaila . service contracts . Shahristani . SOC . Suleimaniya . Taqtaq . Tawke . topping plants The Interview

Dathar Al-Khashab

Dathar Al-Khashab, Director General of Midland Refinery Co, gives his take on Iraq’s planned refining investment conference scheduled for June 26, in an interview with Ruba Husari in Baghdad.

Q: Do you expect Iraq to succeed in getting foreign investors to build any of the four refineries on offer?

A: It is very hard to get investors to invest in any refineries anywhere, not just in Iraq because margins are very limited. As far as Iraq is concerned, several improvements to the refinery investment law have been introduced with several incentives including discounting feedstock crude by 5% to market price instead of 1% initially. There are also several options the ministry of oil is looking into for lifting products for the…

Baiji . Basrah . catalytic cracking . catalytic reformer . Dathar al-Khashab . Daura . FEED . feedstock . iraq oil . Midland Refinery Co . nameplate capacity . operating capacity . pipelines . refineries . refining . refining conference June 2010 The Interview

Thamir al-Ghadhban

Thamir al-Ghadhban, former Iraqi Minister of Oil and Chairman of the Advisory Commission at the Prime Minister’s office, gives his take on the latest developments in Iraq’s oil sector and analyses future trends in an interview in Baghdad with Ruba Husari.

Q: How do you expect a new government following the March 7 legislative elections to deal with the signed contracts? Is there a risk that the legality of those contracts might be challenged by a future government if it’s not led by the same party that legalized them?

A: I expect any new government that will formed in the coming months to accept the signed contracts and continue with their implementation. I don’t think there is any risk there related to…

…

1st bid round . 2nd bid round . cash flow . decline rate . elections . exports . garraf . gas . Haditha . Halfaya . INOC . IOCs . K3 . Kirkuk . KRG . Kurdistan . LNG . Main Pay . Majnoon . Midland Oil Co . Mishrif . MOC . NOC . oil and gas law . oil ministry . parliament . peak oil . pipelines . plateau . production . PSA . ratification . recovery rates . refineries . remuneration . results . Rumaila . service contracts . Shahristani . Shura council . SOC . Somo . Syria . terminals . thamir al-Ghadhban . Turkey . West Qurna . western desert . Zubair The Interview

Shiltagh Aboud

Basrah Governor Dr Shiltagh Aboud lays down his expectations from international oil companies in an interview with Ruba Husari in his office in Basrah Feb. 4th, 2010.

Q: Five of the oil fields development contracts awarded recently concern fields in the Basrah province, how do you see the benefits beyond the oil sector?

A: I personally consider that the organization of the bid rounds and the participation of companies from different nationalities is a big victory for Iraq and for the political will that was behind it. There were too many obstacles and difficulties created internally by political figures and parties who risked derailing the whole initiative because they did not wish to see Iraq develop quickly, particularly during this period. They…

…

1st bid round . 2nd bid round . Basrah . BP . cash flow . CNPC . contracts . ENI . Exxon Mobil . federal budget . garraf . Ghadban . governor . Hussein Al-Shahristani . Local council . Majnoon . Nouri al-Maliki . oil ministry . Petronas . Rumaila . Shell . Sheltag Abboud . shiltagh aboud . Tony Hayward . West Qurna . Zubair The Interview