10 YEARS OF INFORMING, ENGAGING AND EMPOWERING STAKEHOLDERS IN IRAQ | APRIL 2018 INSIDE Zubair field set to kick off 2 year-on-year growth Parliament re-establishes Iraq 8 National Oil Company Q&A: Ibrahim Bahralolom, 10 MP and former oil minister ZhenHua expands China's role in Iraq's oil sector The Chinese state-owned company is looking to form an oil trading joint venture with SOMO and develop the East Baghdad oil field. Workers at drilling rig No. 7 at the East Baghdad oil field on June 5, 2012. The China ZhenHua Oil Company, a subsidiary of state-owned arms Q&A: SOMO Director General Alaa al-Yassiri manufacturer Norinco, is poised to make Iraq's oil exports chief discusses Baghdad-Ankara-KRG oil negotiations and two new investments in Iraq’s oil sector. the possibility of a third grade of Basra crude. The company is forming a new oil trading joint venture with the State Oil What is the expected export average The expected figure from Basra, south Marketing Organization (SOMO) and is for 2018? only, the average will be 3.6 [million bpd]. negotiating the upstream development of Currently, the real figure up to date, for We have an amount available for exports the East Baghdad oil field. the first two months, let me give you the from Kirkuk, about 250,000, ready for The new deals would further enmesh exact accurate figure -- 3.459 [million bpd]. exports. China and its various state companies This issue depends on Ceyhan. The Do you think that the growth of the in the production and sale of Iraq’s oil. figure I just mention was from the south, exports will put Iraq out of compliance ZhenHua is already working in the Ahdab Basra. If Ceyhan resumes, we have with the OPEC quota agreement? oil field, in a joint venture with the China bigger export capacity, depending on the The OPEC commitment is related to the National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), which resuming of the work related to our deal production, not to exports. We don’t have is itself invested in several other major with Iran. any increase in the production. We have projects in Iraq. see AL-YASSIRI, page 4 see ZHENHUA, page 6 www.iraqoilreport.com Zubair field set to kick off year-on-year growth New infrastructure is nearly complete, with more to come, and the Eni-operated field will start adding 100,000 bpd this year and next. Iraq’s second-largest producing oil field The new gas oil separation station, first “The production was not determined is wrapping up a 200,000 barrel per day contracted to Samsung in March 2014, based on the facility’s operations; it is (bpd) processing facility which, along with will be ready to hand over to Eni in June, changed based on the need and due to the a drilling program, will enable it to increase according to two senior officials involved ministerial plan,” Abbas said. production by 65 percent in four years. in the project, one at Samsung and the The field is expected to average 437,000 Zubair, operated by Italy’s Eni, produced other at the state-run Basra Oil Company, bpd in February. an average of around 437,000 bpd in which owns the field. Like all of the fields in southern Iraq, February, according to an Iraqi oil official The project is 80 percent complete, the Zubair requires external water sources, in Basra, up from 425,000 bpd in January Samsung official said, and when finished so that water can be injected to boost and second only to the BP-CNPC-operated will facilitate 200,000 bpd of new output reservoir pressure. The new production Rumaila field, at 1.465 million bpd. and 130 million standard cubic feet of facility will add an additional 240,000 bpd of water treatment, increasing water injection at the field from the existing 450,000 bpd, according to the BOC. Drake and Scull International is currently building a connection to Zubair from the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant, which primarily services Rumaila. In December, Hossam Hussein Wali, director general of the South Refineries Company, said his company was nearing completion of a project with Eni and BOC for treating refinery water refuse for use at Zubair instead. The project’s ultimate capacity is around 264,000 bpd of water. Zubair is to reach a production plateau of 850,000 bpd, according to a 2013 change to the technical service contract agreed between the Oil Ministry and the consortium. The original contract had the field An engineer at the Zubair oil field on Jan. 21, 2010. reaching 1.2 million bpd. The consortium receives $2 per barrel remuneration fee The Zubair field’s producing well count associated gas, eliminating flaring at least in addition to cost recovery. The plateau has grown from 120 to 240 wells since in the northern Hammar area of the field. production timeframe was extended five the Zubair contract was signed in 2010, The station has four units each with years to 2035 as well. with another 36 wells to be drilled each 50,000 bpd capacity. In 2016, Occidental Petroleum year for the next four years, said Abdul- “The production at the beginning is withdrew from the consortium due to the Jabbar Abbas, the head of the Zubair field 100,000 bpd and reaching 200,000 bpd company’s pivot away from projects in the commission. one year after we complete the production region. The Basra Oil Company took over “The target production by the end of lines,” said a senior BOC official on the Occidental’s shares. Eni now has 41.56 2022 is about 700,000 bpd,” Abbas said. project. percent, BOC has 29.69 percent, Korea’s Gas production is “about 310 million Zubair’s output has decreased from a Kogas has 23.75 percent, and the Missan standard cubic feet per day, and 77 peak of 450,000 bpd last fall, which Abbas Oil Company holds a 5 percent stake. ♦ percent of the production is sent to Basra cautioned was not a decline but rather Gas Company while the rest is used as the field adapting to instructions from READ THE FULL STORY @ fuel.” Baghdad. www.iraqoilreport.com 2 We are regional energy leader, with downstream operations accounting for 30 percent of domestic fuel demands and utilities business which delivers enough electricity to power nearly three-quarters of a million homes. We have built on our energy leadership to become a key player in the construction and property industry in Kurdistan which supports critical infrastructure of national development. Our energy business processes 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day and contributes 10% of the Iraq gasoline supply. Our contribution is significant. Our impact is real. www.iraqoilreport.com Q&A: SOMO Director General Alaa al-Yassiri AL-YASSIRI, cont’d from page 1 But it does have the capacity for more than the exports capacity and the process of that. Now we ask Basra Oil Company to be isolating of the oils. amounts that are produced and we send able to load more than 1 million barrels. What is SOMO’s plan for expanding them to the refineries. In fact, for Kirkuk SOMO has had success with Basra sales to different countries and regions? amounts, we started to send them to the Heavy - it’s now about 25 percent of This issue is related to [our efforts to refineries in the middle and in the south. Basra exports. To what extent will the increase] revenues. If we find out that there Despite that, we have amounts ready for Basra Heavy to Basra Light ratio change is a benefit from exporting a third type of oil exports, but we are not exporting them. in the next year or two? called Basra medium, and if we will achieve The level that Iraq is committed to, For Basra Heavy, our exports from Basra more revenues than with the existing light, according to the OPEC deal, covers our currently are 800,000-850,000 bpd. The ratio we will sell three oils. But if we have the exports from the south and from the north. will change according to the production [of capacity to isolate these three oils, and we Currently, we are only exporting from the heavier versus lighter oil]. According to the are convinced, we will start with the first south. current production, it is stable now. step, which is to offer it to the customers. According to the recent press releases from the Oil Ministry, there has been a decrease in the exports from Basra terminals. Yes, there was a technical problem in the pipe in the sea. That put us below our target exports, which was 3.6 [million bpd], and went to 3.459 [million bpd]. We have also heard, and seen with satellite imagery, there have been a few leaks in the Basra Gulf in the past few months. What is the reason for that? I don’t know about this. [The issue] is with Basra Oil Company. But I think it is the same problem I just mentioned. What is the status of the Basra oil terminals’ production capacity? At the current export capacity, we could, through Basra, reach 3.7 [million bpd]. We already have exported this amount. We are working to open new outlets. Alaa al-Yassiri, the director general of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization, at the Nov. 30, 2017, OPEC meeting in Vienna. For example, one to Iran, another outlet to Aqaba, beside other outlets that we are Now the Iraqi light is close in its For any oil that is newly entering thinking about.