Page 8 - MEOG Week 41 2021

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Iraq working with IOCs

to increase oil output

IRAQ IRAQ’S Ministry of Oil (MoO) believes it is of the water supply pipeline has been expanded
nearing the conclusion of talks with IOCs devel- to 5mn bpd with the capacity of the water treat-
oping its major oilfields regarding efforts that ment plant designed to be 7.5mn bpd. This pro-
will raise the country’s oil production to 8mn ject will be critical to Baghdad achieving its 8mn
barrels per day (bpd) by 2027. bpd target.
Speaking during last week’s Energy Intelli- It is testament to the importance of these
gence Forum, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar projects and particularly the CSSP that Abdul
said: “There is a new discussion with all our part- Jabbar said this week that the country’s newly
ners, the IOCs, in Iraq to optimise the plateau to reformed Iraqi National Oil Co. (INOC) will
be 8mn bpd by end of 2027. “We have completed take a 40% stake in them, as state firms usually
90%-95% of discussions with them to change the take a smaller participation.
plateau from 12mn bpd to around 8mn bpd.” Abdul Jabbar, who is also the president of the
Oil production capacity currently sits at state company, recently instructed the MoO to
around 5mn bpd and the collaboration of for- hand over control of seven government-owned
eign firms will be key to increasing this figure, companies to INOC: Basra Oil Co. (BOC),
none more so than TotalEnergies, which earlier Midland Oil Co. (MOC), North Oil Co. (NOC),
this year signed a $27bn deal to develop oil, gas Dhi Qar Oil Co. (DQOC), Maysan Oil Co., Oil
and solar projects as well as, most importantly, Exploration Co. (OEC) and State Company for
a seawater supply facility in Basra governorate. Oil Projects (SCOP).
The French company will invest $3bn in the Just over a year ago the Cabinet amended the
Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP), a 2018 INOC legislation following objections by
facility that has been on the drawing board since the Federal Supreme Court to the law, which
2010. With the project already delayed by nearly was deemed to be unconstitutional. This saw
a decade, talks broke down with previous opera- the creation of the INOC governing board and
tor ExxonMobil in 2019. advisory board and the conducting a valuation
In its original form, the CSSP was intended to of all companies to be moved from the MoO to
treat 2.5mn bpd of seawater from the Gulf and INOC authority.
pipe it to major southern oilfields for injection INOC, which was established in 1966, will be
to increase pressure in oil wells and raise produc- a “separate corporate entity enjoying financial
tion levels. and administrative autonomy, represented by
Under the deal with TotalEnergies, the scope the president.”™

Iran, Saudi to reopen diplomatic missions

IRAN/SAUDI IRAN and Saudi Arabia negotiated an agree- reported on person close to the negotiations.
ment to reopen consulates in both countries, Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Agence France-Presse reported on October 12. Said Khatibzadeh said that at the moment five
Iran and Saudi Arabia witnessed a collapse in rounds of talks between Tehran and Riyadh have
relations dating back to 2016 when Saudi author- taken place: four were held in Baghdad, one - on
ities hung Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in
Following that move Iranian militias in the New York. According to him, the dialogue is
guise of students stormed the embassy and con- focused on bilateral and regional issues, includ-
sulate of the Saudis in Tehran and Mashhad. ing the situation in the Persian Gulf and Yemen.
Talks between the two have been ongoing for On August 9, Khatibzadeh indicated that
the past several months, however, neither side Saudi Arabia and Iran are on the way to resolve
initially admitted to discussions publicly. some of the problems between themselves.
“They have reached an agreement on the On June 21, the new President of Iran, Ebra-
resumption of the work of the consulates,” the him Raisi, at the first press conference after the
agency quoted him as saying. elections, said that there were no obstacles to the
“I think that in the coming weeks, an agree- dialogue between Tehran and Riyadh and the
ment may follow to normalise [relations],” AFP return of embassies.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 13•October•2021