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…
Tag: SOC
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…
The State Partners
Iraq’s oil ministry did well in choosing different companies to represent the state stake in the consortia awarded contracts to develop oil fields. Unlike the old days when the state oil marketing organization (Somo) was considered the de-facto state partner, including in five oil deals signed before the 2003 toppling of the previous regime (two production sharing contracts with CNPC and Lukoil and three exploration contracts with PetroVietnam, ONGC and…
The Real Winners
In retrospect, and despite what was considered at the time a ridiculously low fee, producing oil fields awarded to international oil companies in the first bid round turned out to be the most lucrative in terms of the service fee they will be paid. That’s excluding the three fields that will be producing less than 200,000 b/d (see table below). Even with the protracted negotiations over amendments to the final producing…