Iraq’s fifth bid round launched last year has fallen victim to national electioneering. After missing the first deadline in the timeline announced end of November to conduct a roadshow for the tendered exploration blocks by early February, technocrats at Iraq’s oil ministry received sudden instructions to cut through the usual process and prepare to award exploration and development contracts by April 15. Just like the Iraq National Oil Co (INOC)…
Tag: TSC
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…
Making Headway in Rumaila
Basrah – The Rumaila oil fields, North and South, are getting their biggest face lift in a long time and at a rate which will see the fields doubling their output within three years to some 2 million barrels per day. At a joint management committee (JMC) meeting last week, the second so far since the Rumaila service contract won by BP and CNPC in June 2009 became effective Dec….
Early Bonanza
There is a bonanza for international oil companies who managed to make an early entry into Iraq. Operators like BP, Eni, Exxon Mobil – and to a certain extent CNPC which managed to convert its 1997 production sharing agreement for the development of Al-Ahdab field into a service contract last year – will have first call on the limited infrastructure capacity to absorb the new crude they will start pumping…