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

Iraq, Shell Target Summer Gas JV Deal

30 April 2008

The Iraqi oil ministry and Royal Dutch Shell aim to sign a preliminary agreement this summer to establish a joint venture to exploit associated gas and channel it for domestic use and export for at least 20 years, Iraqi and industry sources told International Oil Daily this week. Plans include building LNG export facilities.

Industry sources estimate investment of $2 billion-$5 billion would be required over the first five years to gather flared gas and build offshore floating LNG plants that could start exporting 400 million cubic feet per day of gas as early as 2012.

The Anglo-Dutch supermajor submitted proposals to the ministry in January and March for a southern gas utilization scheme. This would involve gathering some 600…

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Akkas . associated gas . exports . flared gas . gas deal . gas production . HOA . LNG . LPG . master gas plan . negotiations . processing . Shell . south gas co . south gas utilization . western desert 2008

ONGC, Pertamina Renegotiate Iraqi Deals

25 April 2008

India’s state Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Indonesia’s Pertamina recently opened talks with Iraq’s oil ministry about renegotiating exploration contracts signed with the Baath regime before the war in 2003, Iraqi officials told International Oil Daily Thursday.

The two companies met with Iraqi ministry officials in Amman last week to adapt the deals to the new model contracts — called Service Exploration and Production Contracts (SEPC) — the ministry is introducing for exploration deals. Financial terms will also have to be renegotiated to take into account the new scope of work, as well as cost and oil price increases since the original deals were signed, the Iraqi officials said.

Article 40 of Iraq’s draft hydrocarbon law — which…

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Ahdab . Amara . Block 3 . Block 4 . Block 8 . CNPC . exploration . hydrocarbon law . Indonesia . Lukoil . model contract . negotiations . oil-for-food . ONGC . Pertamina . PetroVietnam . PSC . SEPC . Stroitransgas . West Qurna . western desert 2008

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 considered the KRG contracts illegal, warning of dire consequences if they persisted. In letters sent to a number of firms that have signed MOUs offering Iraq technical support over the past four years, he informed them that he would in his “capacity as minister and on behalf of the Iraqi government declare…

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Basrah . BP . Chevron . contracts . Crescent . Erbil . exploration . Exxon Mobil . Gharraf . Heritage Oil . KRG . Kurdistan . MOU . ONGC . Rattawi . Reliance . Shahristani . Shell . SK Energy . Taq Taq . Tuba . western desert . Western Oil Sands 2008