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. 17, several major contracts worth over $600 million were awarded.

Contracts for the drilling of 56 wells went to a Chinese company which will provide 3 rigs, Iraq Drilling Co. (IDC) jointly with Schlumberger will provide another 3 rigs and a seventh rig is to be provided by Weatherford. The companies…

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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 over the next few years. Those who will succeed in clinching a few deals in December might struggle with bottlenecks in pipelines and export facilities once the fields they are meant to develop come on stream. But it’s mostly a challenge for Iraq to cater for these capacity additions in…

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Shell’s Upstream Chief Offers His Take on Iraq’s Landmark Bid Round

7 November 2008

Despite its disappointment that Iraqi oil fields it had been studying were opened to international bidding, Royal Dutch Shell says it welcomes the transparent process Iraq has chosen for its first landmark bid round. But the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s upstream chief, Malcolm Brinded, says he needs to see contract terms before assessing whether the service deals have “long-term robustness” in the absence of a nationwide hydrocarbon law.

“It is in some ways disappointing but the important thing is we got some good insights into the fields we studied. At the same time I really understand the importance of a transparent process in Iraq,” Brinded told International Oil Daily in an interview in Abu Dhabi this week.

Shell has been involved in…

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1st bid round . Brinded . gas deal . HOA . hydrocarbon law . Kirkuk . Malcolm . Missan . SGC . Shell . TSC . upstream 2008

Exxon, Conoco Both Score Firsts in Baghdad

13 August 2008

US majors are adopting a more aggressive approach toward Iraq. Jim Mulva, chief executive of ConocoPhillips, this month became the highest-ranking US company executive to visit the country since the war, while Exxon Mobil has submitted the first one-year no-fee technical support contract (TSC) to the oil ministry, Iraqi sources said Tuesday.

A Conoco spokeswoman in Houston confirmed the visit, Mulva’s first to Iraq. “As customary in business relationships with host governments, representatives from ConocoPhillips have met and had telephone conversations with officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. In addition, Jim Mulva recently met in Baghdad with officials from the ministry. As a matter of company policy, ConocoPhillips does not comment on the specifics of such meetings,” the…

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Bai Hassan . ConocoPhillips . Exxon Mobil . Jambur . MOU . Mulva . Shahristani . Shell . TSC . Zubair 2008