IDC’s Success Story

Iraq Drilling Co (IDC) is back in force and seems on the way to turn itself into a success story by teaming up with the big ones. After the short setback following the failed joint venture with Mesopotamia Petroleum, it has finally found the magic formula to play the leading role in the gigantic drilling effort that will take place across the Iraqi oil fields over the next few years.

In the first drilling tender launched earlier this year for drilling in Rumaila oil field, IDC bid jointly with Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider and together they won a contract to drill 21 new wells and carry out workover jobs on 23 wells. IDC will supply three of its…

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al-Ghadban . bids . drilling . drilling tenders . Gharraf . Halliburton . IDC . Iraq drilling company . Majnoon . Mesopotamia Petroleum . Najmah . OEC . oil ministry . pipelines . pumping stations . Qayarah . rigs . Rumaila . Schlumberger . Scop. . service contracts . Shahristani . tank farm . Weatherford . wells . West Qurna . workover . Zubair The View from Baghdad

Watering the Oil Fields

Iraq is set to witness a few firsts when it comes to how oil fields have been and are being developed around the world. After all, at no time in the history of the industry has so many oil fields of this size been developed all at once in such a short time span. One of the major firsts will no doubt be the Common Seawater Supply Facility (CSSF) which will aim to process up to 15 million barrels per day of raw seawater from the Mideast Gulf in order to provide some 12 million b/d of treated water to be injected in fields in southern Iraq as they are developed. That makes it the biggest such project in the…

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1st bid round . 2nd bid round . bidding results . BP . CNOOC . common seawater supply facility . CSSF . drilling . ENI . Exxon . field development . Gharraf . Halfaya . Majnoon . Mideast Gulf . Missan . oil fields . oil ministry . Petronas . pipelines . rigs . Rumaila . seawater . service contracts . Shell . SOC . water cut . water flooding . water injection . West Qurna . Zubair The View from Baghdad

Thamir al-Ghadhban

Thamir al-Ghadhban, former Iraqi Minister of Oil and Chairman of the Advisory Commission at the Prime Minister’s office, gives his take on the latest developments in Iraq’s oil sector and analyses future trends in an interview in Baghdad with Ruba Husari.

Q: How do you expect a new government following the March 7 legislative elections to deal with the signed contracts? Is there a risk that the legality of those contracts might be challenged by a future government if it’s not led by the same party that legalized them?

A: I expect any new government that will formed in the coming months to accept the signed contracts and continue with their implementation. I don’t think there is any risk there related to…

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1st bid round . 2nd bid round . cash flow . decline rate . elections . exports . garraf . gas . Haditha . Halfaya . INOC . IOCs . K3 . Kirkuk . KRG . Kurdistan . LNG . Main Pay . Majnoon . Midland Oil Co . Mishrif . MOC . NOC . oil and gas law . oil ministry . parliament . peak oil . pipelines . plateau . production . PSA . ratification . recovery rates . refineries . remuneration . results . Rumaila . service contracts . Shahristani . Shura council . SOC . Somo . Syria . terminals . thamir al-Ghadhban . Turkey . West Qurna . western desert . Zubair The Interview

IOCs and the Future of Basrah

I believe the governor’s views are quite right, very positive and give assurances to the IOCs who signed contracts to develop oil fields in the Basrah governorate. The message is clear to the IOCs to engage with the local community and make an effort to reach out. It’s true that, and in spite of the monopolistic and concessionary nature of the old contracts IOCs had with Iraq, Basrah people did benefit from work opportunities, housing and other initiatives such as social and sports clubs …etc. One has to admit here that the priority is employment with Basrah population exceeding two million and high unemployment rate. The city has been deprived of work opportunities for decades though there are skilled and…

1st bid round . 2nd bid round . Basrah . BP . Exxon Mobil . governor . Khor al-Zubair . Lukoil . Majnoon . oil fields . oil ministry . Rumaila . Shell . Sheltag Abboud . West Qurna . Zubair The Forum