Page 6 - AsianOil Week 42 2022

AsianOil COMMENTARY AsianOil

“preparing to conclude a contract in the coming state-owned Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) provided
days”, paving the way for the start of exploratory its latest update on operations, announcing that
surveys. it had completed a new well at Nasiriyah (well
The MoO is also looking to explore four large #51). This takes its total number of wells drilled
areas in the south-east, described to Middle or reclaimed to 131 for the year.
East Oil & Gas (MEOG) by an MoO source as: IDC Director General Basem Abdul Karim
Area A (between Nasiriyah and Block 10); Area told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “The techni-
B (between Nasiriyah and Gharraf); Area D cal and engineering staff in the company com-
(east of Nasiriyah) and Area E, which covers the pleted drilling well 51, with a depth of 2,109
marshlands of Dhi Qar. metres.”
The well is part of a 20-well drilling campaign
Rumaila deal being carried out by IDC in collaboration with
Meanwhile, China Petroleum Engineering US services firm Weatherford at Nasiriyah on
and Construction (CPECC), the engineering behalf of the field’s operator, the state-owned Dhi
division of China National Petroleum Corp. Qar Oil Co. (DQOC).
(CNPC), was awarded a contract by BP’s Basra Abdul Karim noted that drilling was carried
Energy Company Ltd (BEC) joint venture (JV) out using the 1,000 horsepower IDC 46 drilling
with CNPC’s listed arm PetroChina, which rig, noting that this is the fourth well drilled on
replaced the Rumaila Operating Organisation the project. The first well (well #48) was com-
(ROO) as the field’s main contractor. pleted in July.
CPECC announced that it had received a Nasiriyah was shut in during February
$386mn engineering, procurement, construc- after protesters blocked workers’ access to the
tion and commissioning (EPCC) deal for the site. Capacity at the field is believed to stand at
Mishrif Qurainat oil processing facility which around 70,000 bpd, produced from the Mishrif
will enable the debottlenecking of production at formation, though production over the last two
Rumaila. The plant will have two 120,000 barrel years has been hamstrung by Baghdad’s efforts
per day (bpd) processing trains. The contract to comply with OPEC+ output restrictions. The
term is due to begin in mid-November and con- field has estimated reserves of 4bn barrels.
struction is scheduled to take around three years In a statement, DQOC said it had closed
to complete. operations for a week owing to safety concerns
The deal is the latest in a string of major engi- about its workforce amid reports of violent pro-
neering awards for CPECC. It is of a similar scale tests across the governorate by university gradu-
to a $316mn job awarded by ExxonMobil in Feb- ates demanding job opportunities.
ruary for the West Qurna-1 oilfield to the north, DQOC also oversees the development of the
while the Chinese firm also won a $121mn deal Subba field and has been in discussions with US
in 2019 to upgrade facilities and increase the major Chevron for oil exploration elsewhere
capture of flare gas at the field. In May this year, in the governorate, though talks were paused
CPECC was hired by Baker Hughes to carry out in February until a new government has been
detailed design work on a plant to process gas appointed in Baghdad.
associated with oil production from the Nasiri- IDC’s ramping up of operations will play
yah and Gharraf oilfields. a key role in Iraq achieving its ambitious oil
capacity target of 8mn bpd by 2027, which rep-
Drilling update resents an increase of around 3mn bpd on cur-
Aside from these oilfield deals, the rent levels. ™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 24•October•2022