Dhiya Jaafar

South Oil Co (SOC) Director General Dhiya Jaafar gives an update on the state of Iraqi oil production, infrastructure expansion and ongoing projects and problems in an interview with Ruba Husari Nov. 1st, 2010, in his office in Basrah. Q: How do you explain the continued decline in production at Rumaila oil field where BP was the first to sign a development contract, precisely to arrest the decline and increase…

Iraq Punishes Oil Firms With KRG Deals

16 January 2008 Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has followed up on threats to punish companies that sign deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) by canceling the memoranda of understanding (MOU) some had inked with his ministry, a ministry source told International Oil Daily from Baghdad Tuesday. This is the first concrete step toward depriving them of any future deals with Baghdad. Al-Shahristani had persistently told companies that Baghdad…

Iraq: Splits Dog Oil Law

9 March 2007 Having waited so long for a law offering the framework necessary to regularize and legitimize future investments in Iraq’s vast oil resources, international firms itching to get their hands on the biggest Mideast opportunity in decades now find consensus — perhaps the most important ingredient of all — lacking. Iraqis are divided over the legitimacy of signing contracts while the country is wracked by chaos, and some…

Iraq Focuses On Pilot Projects To Counter Big Field Declines

8 July 2005 Iraq’s South Oil Co. (SOC) is launching a handful of pilot production projects at oil fields in southern Iraq, in an attempt to compensate for declines at its large producing fields, according to local industry sources. The big-field problems have been exacerbated by a lack of funds for drilling new wells and working over existing wells, as well as delays in implementing water injection projects. The major…