Race Against Time

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…

Iraqi Drilling Firm Gets a Makeover

23 July 2008 State Iraq Drilling Co. (IDC), one of 14 oil firms under oil ministry supervision, is setting up a joint venture with UK-based Mesopotamia Petroleum Co. (MPC) to carry out drilling services in Iraq, Iraqi officials told International Oil Daily in Baghdad last week. IDC is meanwhile upgrading its rig fleet, buying 19 new rigs that should start arriving in September, the officials said. Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani…

Two Years On, Iraq Output Still Struggling

9 March 2005 Almost two years after the US-led war ousted the Baath regime, Iraq is still struggling to meet prewar production levels at its dilapidated oil fields. Iraq’s southern oil fields, which accounted for the majority of prewar production of 2.8 million barrels per day, are currently managing just 1.85 million b/d — and even this rate is causing great distress to reservoirs, Iraq’s interim Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadban…