Page 5 - MEOG Week 07 2022

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

metres) per day of gas from the Al-Gharraf and which will target the field’s Mishrif, Nahr Bin
Nasiriyah fields. Umar and Zubair reservoirs.
“The company started work on the ground in Zubair currently produces around 475,000
the Nasiriyah field to build the plant about three bpd and Eni is working to increase capacity to
to four months ago, after completing the design 850,000 bpd by 2027.
process … the equipment is now in the process Meanwhile, BOC director Khaled Hamza
of manufacturing,” Khudair said. told the local Al-Sabah newspaper that momen-
The estimated 1.3 billion-barrel Gharraf tum is building behind plans to begin offshore
field, located around 85 km north of Nassiriyah exploration efforts. “A plan to support explo-
city, is operated by Malaysia’s Petronas, which ration efforts in our territorial waters has been
holds 45%. It is partnered by Japan Petroleum approved [by INOC] to implement projects to
Exploration (JAPEX) with 30% and state-owned invest hydrocarbon wealth in marine areas,” he
North Oil Co. (NOC). The licence was awarded said, noting that it would be co-ordinated with
during Baghdad’s second international licensing subcontractors that have experience in offshore
round in late 2009. The consortium is currently drilling.
working to develop capacity from 70,000 bpd to In January, the MoO urged the expedition of
230,000 bpd. delayed seismic surveys of the country’s offshore
Capacity at Nasiriyah, which is operated by by China’s state-owned China National Offshore
DQOC is believed to stand at around 70,000 Oil Corp. (CNOOC) under a 2019 deal with
bpd, though production over the last two years INOC subsidiary Oil Exploration Co. (OEC).
has been hamstrung by Baghdad’s efforts to This saw CNOOC agree to explore a 530
comply with OPEC+ output restrictions. DQOC square km area offshore the Al-Fao peninsula
also oversees the development of the Subba field. with OEC focusing on a connected 120 square
km onshore area, southeast of the 6.4bn barrel
Basra efforts Zubair oilfield.
Further to the south-east, the Iraqi Drilling Co. Work on the project was delayed by the
(IDC) reported the completion of the ZB-502 Covid-19 pandemic and meetings were held
well at the Zubair oilfield. The well is the first to between Chinese and Iraqi parties last year to
be drilled under a 37-well campaign between proceed with the campaign. With all required
IDC and US oilfield services specialist Schlum- approvals having been provided for the offshore
berger signed in December with the field’s Italian survey to proceed, Abdul Jabbar pressed the par-
developer Eni. ties to begin their efforts in earnest.
IDC’s director general Basem Abdul Karim While Baghdad is pushing oilfield devel-
said this week that the well was drilled to a total opment across the country, it must maintain
depth of 3,640 metres in 56 days using the IDC momentum on all fronts if it is to have any
38 drilling rig. He added that the rig would be chance of achieving its goal of increasing oil
mobilised to a new drilling location in the Zubair production capacity from 5mn bpd to 8mn bpd
to begin drilling the ZB-515 well. The IDC 37 rig by 2027, when most, if not all of these efforts are
will also be utilised during the drilling campaign due to come to fruition.™

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