Iraq’s newly announced proven oil reserves figure of 143.1 billion barrels is most likely closer to the reality than the old one of 115 billion bbls minus what has been produced since the last revision, which is put at 5 billion bbls. But the question is how did Iraq arrive at this magic number without new exploration or new discoveries and while 3-D seismic surveys for the southern oil fields…
Tag: Al-Shahristani
Refining Dilemma
Oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani says Iraq will become an exporter of refined products within a few years. That’s a very optimistic assessment of the status of the Iraqi refining sector. True, Iraq has four new grass roots refineries with a combined capacity of 740,000 barrel per day offered to private investors. But it still has a long way to go before any investor jumps in and spends billions on building…
The Four Sisters
After initially announcing three weeks ago that he was setting up Thi Qar Oil Co. in the Nassiriya province, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani seems to have got better advice since, and is now set on creating the Midland Oil Co. to be in charge of the central oil and gas fields. Thi Qar division within SOC will remain in charge of the fields in the province, mainly Nassiriya and…
Wither INOC?
There is no chance that INOC draft law would be voted by parliament before the draft oil and gas law is legislated, according to Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani. Why? Because there is close linkage between the two laws as well as two other laws pending legislation; the oil ministry restructuring law and the revenue sharing law, “without which the state company would be paralyzed.” And that’s not all. There is…