Page 10 - MEOG Week 13 2022

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Iran responds to plans for Dorra

IRAN IRAN has announced it is preparing to develop The offshore portion of the zone also includes
its part of the shared Arash offshore natural gas the minor Hout oilfield, where US services firm
field in the Persian Gulf that Saudi Arabia and McDermott previously carried out pipeline and
Kuwait last week said they have agreed to jointly commissioning work for the partners’ Khafji
develop, the Iranian oil ministry’s Shana news Joint Operations (KJO) entity. Previous efforts
service reported on March 27. to develop Dorra had been designed to yield 600
The Saudis and Kuwaitis, who call the field as mmcf (17 mcm) per day of gas.
Dorra, signed an agreement for the development Iran’s foreign ministry claimed the agreement
plan for the resource. Part of it lies in the Parti- was illegal given that part of Arash is within Iran’s
tioned Neutral Zone (PNZ) shared by Saudi Ara- borders. “The oil ministry has seen necessary
bia and Kuwait. State-owned Kuwait Petroleum preparations and carried out studies to develop
Corp. (KPC) announced that an agreement had and use the shared field of Arash,” Ahmad Asa-
been signed by the country’s energy minister, Dr. dzadeh, deputy oil minister for international and
Mohammad Al Fares, and his Saudi counterpart, commercial affairs, said, according to Shana.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, during a “The reason to have delayed using this shared
visit by the latter to Kuwait. field was pending decision in demarcation dis-
According to KPC, subsidiary Kuwait Gulf putes with Kuwait. But given that the other side,
Oil Co. (KGOC) and Saudi Aramco affiliate Ara- regardless of the previous talks and unilaterally,
mco Gulf Oil Co. (AGOC) will leverage modern moves to develop the field, there is no reason for
technologies to increase gas production from delay,” Asadzadeh said.
the asset to 1bn cubic feet (28mn cubic metres) Even without a demarcation of the field’s bor-
per day alongside 84,000 barrels per day (bpd) of ders, it would be feasible for all three countries to
condensate. Work on the field, which holds 280- work together on development, he was also cited
310bn cubic metres of gas and around 300mn as saying, adding: “The oil ministry expresses its
barrels of oil, has been stalled since 2013. readiness for talks in this regard.” Iran started
As with the development of the PNZ’s talks with Kuwait in 2000 to develop the field but
oil assets – Al-Khafji (offshore) and Wafra no agreements were reached. Arash was discov-
(onshore) – gas output will be divided evenly ered in 1962. It is estimated to hold around 13tcf
between KGOC and AGOC. (368bcm) of natural gas.™

IDC signs SOCAR deal, finishes Amarah work

IRAQ THE state-owned Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) this oilfield in the Maysan Governorate, noting that
week signed an oilfield services deal with Azer- the facilities are now ready to resume produc-
baijan’s SOCAR and completed work at the tion, which will be fed by pipeline to the al-Fao
south-eastern Amarah oilfield. peninsula. IDC kicked off drilling operations
Bassim Abdul Karim, IDC’s director-general, at the Amarah oilfield’s well #19 for MOC in
was quoted by the Ministry of Oil (MoO) website January.
as saying that his company had signed a three- The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,290
year partnership with SOCAR, noting that they metres with IDC using its IDC 23 rig to target
would collaborate on drilling and oil well recla- the Mishrif formation. Mishrif is among three
mation. He added that the contract included an reservoirs covered by a contract signed in Q4
option for extension. 2021 between IDC and Italy’s Eni for the devel-
The agreement follows a lengthy courtship opment of the 6.4bn barrel Zubair oilfield. IDC
between Iraqi and Azeri authorities and a visit to will use its IDC 37 and 38 rigs to drill 37 wells
Baku in January by an IDC delegation. During across the asset. Amarah is one of several fields
the trip, SOCAR AQS, a joint venture between that comprise the Missan Oil Fields concession
SOCAR, Nobel Oil Services and AQS, and IDC which is overseen by MOC. Other assets are
“exchanged views on the development of rela- Abu Ghraib, Faqqa and Noor, with IDC signing
tionships between the two countries and poten- a contract last year with China National Offshore
tial opportunities for cooperation in the field of Oil Co. (CNOOC) to drill 150 at the governo-
drilling”, according to the Azeri firm, which pro- rate’s Buzurgan field.
vided a tour of its Baku Drilling School. The MoO and MOC’s parent, the Iraqi
National Oil Co. (INOC), are working to carry
Amarah out similar projects throughout the country as
Also this week, the MoO reported that Missan Baghdad aims to increase oil production capac-
Oil Co. (MOC) had completed work to reha- ity from 5mn barrels per day at present to 8mn
bilitate and upgrade oil facilities at the Amarah bpd by 2027.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 13 30•March•2022