To Bid or Not To Bid

The first day of Iraq’s oil ministry’s fourth bid round confirmed what many people, including those who worked on the model technical service contract, had expected: conducting exploration and development on the terms offered under these contracts is going to be a hard sale. Kuwait Energy with its partners, Turkey’s TPAO and UAE’s Dragon Oil, was willing to play by what’s on the table to secure Block 9 because it…

Tariq Shafiq

Tariq Shafiq is one of the founding fathers, former director, vice chairman and executive director of Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) founded in 1964. He was also a veteran of its predecessor, Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) where he served in various technical capacities since 1954, including as head of petroleum engineering. In this candid interview with IOF editor Ruba Husari, he gives his expert take on the different versions of…