Page 8 - MEOG Week 06

MEOG PoLICy MEOG
US plans to renew sanctions waiver on Iraq’s imports of Iranian power
Iran/Iraq
THE US is reported to be ready to a waiver allowing Iraq to import natural gas and electric- ity from Iran without risking sanctions, US and Iraqi officials said, as Washington and Baghdad move to ease tensions after diplomatic ties nearly unravelled last month.
In October, the Trump administration granted Iraq a 120-day sanctions waiver that is set to expire this week.
Iraq relies heavily on Iranian natural gas for power generation.
The Trump administration had previously granted waivers protecting Baghdad from any penalty to avoid plunging the country into crisis on the condition that the government moved to wean itself off Iranian energy.
There are said to be differing views within the Trump administration regarding the waiver; the necessity of maintaining pressure on Iran is countered by the risk of the economic stability of its Iraqi neighbour.
A crucial factor in coming to this decision may be the appointment of Mohammad Tawfiq Allawi as Iraq’s new prime minister.
The United States and Iraq have been work- ing to smooth over relations after tensions rose in recent months following US attacks on Iraqi militia that are part of the country’s security forces and the killing of Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad as well as Iraqi citizens’ attacks on the US embassy and mass demonstra- tions demanding US forces leave the country.™
ProJeCts & ComPanIes
Iran awards $1.3bn contract to develop two oilfields
Iran
IrAN awarded a $1.3 billion contract to a domestic company for improved oil recovery at two onshore oil fields in the southwest part of the country, oil minister Bijan zanganeh said Saturday.
The contract was awarded by the National Iranian South Oil Co. to general contractor Mapna Group, with gross income from the project seen at $6 billion based on an oil price of $50 a barrel, zanganeh told reporters at a signing ceremony. The two fields in the south- west Khuzestan province Parsi and Paranj are currently producing 52,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) of crude oil. The 10-year contract will raise the production to 85,000 bpd, with output over the 10 years at around 121 million barrels. “The contract core sum is $876 million and with its side costs the investment will reach $1.3 bil- lion,”zanganehsaid.Thecontractwassignedby Ahmad Mohammadi, managing director of the National Iranian South Oil Co., and Abbas Alia- badi, managing director of Mapna.
Mapna Group is a group of Iranian compa- nies involved in development and execution of thermal and renewable power plants, oil & gas, railway transportation and other industrial projects as well as manufacturing main equip- ment including gas and steam turbines, elec- trical generator, turbine blade and vane, HrSG and conventional boilers, electric and control systems, gas compressor, locomotive and other
pertinent equipment. The company was formed in 1993 and was initially named Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company, but renamed Mapna in 2012.
The two fields hold around 12 billion bar- rels of oil and development will include desali- nation and drilling of 29 new and submersible wells. Parsi, which pumped 450,000 bpd in the past, will be injected with 280 million cubic feet per day of gas, and Paranj with 24 million cfpd, Mohammadi said. The Mapna contract is the fifth modelled after the Iran Petroleum Contract, with the first being South Pars gas field phase 11, the second Aban and West Paydar, the third Sepehr and Jofeyr and the fourth, East Paydar, Dalpari and Cheshmeh Khosh, zanganeh said.
One of the differences between the Mapna contract and the model IPC is that the contrac- tor will support the operation even though it won’t directly be present at the site, zanganeh said. “Finance is an important issue for us... such projects even the smallest ones require $1 billion in two, three years. Some of the money should come from the capital market. We should now consider other sources than the National Devel- opment Fund given the economic situation of the country,” he said. The National Development Fund is a vehicle for surplus oil income.
The new contract “has become a little bit Khuzestani” which makes it a first for the National Iranian South Oil, zanganeh said.™
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 06 12•February•2020