Drilling Deep in Badra

Drilling in the Badra oil field in the east of Iraq is long and painful. The Iranians had this experience with first six wells drilled in their part of the shared oilfield in the past and now Russia’s Gazprom with its partners are laboring over the deep wells, having the same frustrating and sometimes disappointing experience as foreign operators who drilled on the other side of the border in recent…

Rumaila Update

Basrah – Rumaila’s facelift is continuing despite a few hiccups that pushed production down to below the initial production rate (IPR) of 1.065 million barrels per day. That’s the rate at which Rumaila was producing under SOC last year until BP with CNPC signed a service contract to stop the decline and develop the field further to bring it up to 2.85 million b/d within 6 years. However, SOC officials…

IDC’s Success Story

Iraq Drilling Co (IDC) is back in force and seems on the way to turn itself into a success story by teaming up with the big ones. After the short setback following the failed joint venture with Mesopotamia Petroleum, it has finally found the magic formula to play the leading role in the gigantic drilling effort that will take place across the Iraqi oil fields over the next few years….

Reversing A Trend

Basrah – On the face of it and just listening to Iraqi oil officials describing their new ventures in Rumaila, it would appear as if BP is revolutionizing the way oil is produced in Iraq’s biggest and oldest fields. In reality, much of the work underway aims at reversing the trend of continuous malpractice imposed by years of war and sanctions. This covers all aspects of the production process from…