Drilling in the Badra oil field in the east of Iraq is long and painful. The Iranians had this experience with first six wells drilled in their part of the shared oilfield in the past and now Russia’s Gazprom with its partners are laboring over the deep wells, having the same frustrating and sometimes disappointing experience as foreign operators who drilled on the other side of the border in recent…
Tag: border fields
The Challenge of Producing Joint Fields
The issue of producing shared or joint fields that straddle borders between Iraq and its neighbors is not new. It’s actually several decades old. The first example was the case of Naft Khana and Naft Shah oil fields, the names are for the parts of a single anticlinal structure extending across the border between Iraq and Iran. Many other examples are present such as the Dahlaran-North Abu Ghirab and Fauqa…
Unitization Dilemma
As Iraq and Kuwait forge ahead with their political rapprochement and the demarcation of their international boundaries, a major milestone will be achieved once an agreement is reached on the joint oil fields that straddle the border between the two states. That’s where Iraq needs all its resources to settle the issue in a manner that preserves its sovereignty and safeguards its interests in a way that does not lead…
Power Sharing
A power-sharing deal brokered after eight months of protracted negotiations among the winning parties in Iraq’s March legislative elections seems to have led to a situation where the country is led by two executive bodies: the cabinet and the National Council for Strategic Policies (NCSP). In the new era the two state institutions would have executive powers over oil and gas issues, from endorsing oil pipelines deals with neighboring countries,…