Exxon’s Leap into Kurdistan

It was only a question of time before it became public. ExxonMobil’s move into Kurdistan region of Iraq was surrounded with lots of hush hush from the time it signed in October, until the moment the ministry of natural resources (MNR) in the KRG decided to score a fantastic public relations coup. Now that it is public, where does this leave the regional and the federal governments and what fate…

Race Against Time

Since the Rumaila service contract entered into effect on Dec.17, BP and the Rumaila operating division of SOC have not been wasting any time. They held the first joint management committee meeting on Jan.20, decided on a $1.7 billion budget for 2010, and launched the first tenders for drilling and supply contracts. The target is to add between 150,000-200,000 b/d by December 2010 and rehabilitate the gas oil separation facilities…

China, Iraq Offer Concessions to Seal Oil Deal

29 August 2008 China National Petroleum Corp.’s (CNPC) new 20-year service contract to develop Iraq’s Al-Ahdab oil field — the first oil deal signed since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow in 2003 — preserves some of the choicer elements of its 1997 production sharing agreement (PSA). But both sides offered concessions in a bid to bring the negotiations launched last year to a conclusion, Iraqi sources involved in the talks told International…

Shell, Iraq Push on With JV Gas Talks

6 June 2008 The Iraqi oil ministry and Royal Dutch Shell will launch a second round of talks in Damascus next week on establishing a joint venture in southern Iraq to exploit associated gas, a ministry source in Baghdad told International Oil Daily Thursday. The talks follow a first round of negotiations in late May aimed at concluding a heads of agreement this summer. The Anglo-Dutch supermajor submitted proposals to…