Page 10 - MEOG Week 06 2022

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

CPECC awarded work for

West Qurna-1 expansion

IRAQ STATE-OWNED China Petroleum Engineer- Production from the field is estimated to
ing & Construction Corporation (CPECC) was comprise 380,000 bpd along with around 150mn
last week awarded a major engineering contract cubic feet (4.25mn cubic metres) per day of asso-
for a facility that will handle increased produc- ciated gas, though effective oil capacity is around
tion Iraq’s West Qurna-1 (WQ-1) oilfield. 460,000 bpd.
The China National Petroleum Corp.
(CNPC) subsidiary said that it had been handed Importance of water
a $316mn engineering, procurement, construc- The field’s expansion, like the rest of Iraq’s giant
tion and commissioning contract (EPCC) by and supergiant southern oilfields, will depend
ExxonMobil’s Iraqi division for crude processing greatly on the availability of water and the success
facilities with a total capacity of 210,000 barrels of a long-awaited seawater supply facility which
per day (bpd). The Chinese firm was awarded a ExxonMobil was also due to have developed.
$121mn deal in late 2019 to upgrade facilities These water concerns were laid bare by BOC’s
and increase the capture of flare gas at the field. deputy director-general Ahmed Adhem this
The latest award comes as ExxonMobil week in an interview with S&P Global Platts.
and Iraqi National Oil Co. (INOC) subsidiary He said that the southern fields are cur-
Basra Oil Co. (BOC) work to expand produc- rently producing around 2.95mn bpd, down by
tion capacity from the current 500,000 bpd to as much as 500,000 bpd owing to restrictions
700,000 bpd following the award of a contract in imposed by OPEC+.
June 2021 for a 96-well drilling campaign to US “All fields are able to produce more than
oilfield services specialist Schlumberger. current levels, but the big problem is the action
The expansion of output from WQ-1 is a key undertaken to reduce production due to OPEC
part of Baghdad’s ambitious plans to expand oil limits,” he said.
production capacity from the current 5mn bpd The official noted that increasing output will
to 8mn bpd by 2027. require greater availability of water for injection,
Meanwhile, following protracted negotia- adding that current capacity sits at 4mn bpd of
tions about its departure from the field, Exxon- water. “It is not enough,” he said.
Mobil is expected to divest its operated 32.7% Adhem noted that the southern fields have
share in the field’s technical services contract two water-related issues: the high water cut in oil
(TSC) to BOC, which currently holds 5%. production and the lack of water for injection.
The pair are joined in the TSC by China’s “There are temporary measures we are
PetroChina (32.7%), Japan’s Itochu (19.6%) and undertaking to use ground water for injection.
Pertamina (10%). There are some small projects we have but they
WQ-1 has combined oil and condensate are insufficient for required injection in a nor-
reserves of more than 22bn barrels in the south- mal way,” he said, noting that the field with the
ern portion of the broader West Qurna deposit biggest issues with water cut is Rumaila, while
with the northern WQ-2 project led by Russia’s Zubair is in the most desperate need of water
Lukoil. injection.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 09•February•2022