Page 10 - MEOG Week 27 2022

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Iraq makes discoveries in Nineveh

IRAQ THE governor of Iraq’s north-western Nineveh governorate, Ain Zalla, Batman and Safaia, as
Governorate said last week that a state oil firm well as Qayarah, by far the best-known.
has discovered new oil and gas resources in the Last year, INOC and MoO officials held dis-
region. cussions with the leadership of Angolan NOC
Speaking to the Iraqi News Agency, Najm Sonangol over the firm’s role in the development
al-Jubouri said that the Iraqi Oil Exploration Co. of the heavy oilfield.
(IOEC), a subsidiary of the Iraqi National Oil Co. A long-term technical service contract (TSC)
(INOC), had discovered “several very large fields was signed for the heavy oil deposit during the
in the Qayyarah and Tal Afar regions, and Iraqi second licensing round in 2009, which set a pro-
exploration companies were still continuing” duction plateau target of 120,000 barrels per day
their work in the province. (bpd) with a maximum remuneration of $5 per
Alluding to the regular and widespread barrel.
unrest in Nineveh, al-Jubouri said the governo- During the meeting, INOC and MoO execu-
rate has been providing IOEC with “strict secu- tives expressed their keenness to overcome tech-
rity and great co-operation”. nical, financial “and other” obstacles to achieve
Recent rocket attacks which targeted a refin- plans for the field.
ery belonging to Kurdish firm KAR Group and The Qayarah field lies in the restive Nineveh
the home of CEO Baz Karim Barzanji were province, far from both the main export outlets.
reported to have been fired from Nineveh amid Output from the field had been carried by truck
claims these were perpetrated by Iran-aligned to the port of Khor Al-Zubair, but according to
militia groups. MEES, this was halted in April 2019 owing to a
The exploration work follows the announce- reduction in the netback value of heavy crude.
ment by Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar in Production resumed at around 10,000 bpd
November that the Ministry of Oil (MoO) had in Q3 last year, short of the asset’s 25,000-30,000
kicked off 2D and 3D seismic surveys in Nineveh bpd capacity. Sonangol had been looking to
and Anbar to the south. roughly double capacity at the field prior to the
Al-Jubouri said that the wells “discovered in early 2020 drop in oil price.
Nineveh Governorate are very numerous and Meanwhile, al-Jubouri said that “the gov-
contain very large reserves of oil and gas”, with- ernorate approached the MoO several times
out providing further detail. regarding requests submitted by private com-
In early 2020, the MoO announced plans to panies wishing to establish oil refineries in the
develop the Alan, Juan, Qasab and Sassan oil- Qayyarah field, and other companies wanting
fields in Nineveh, but little has been heard of how to use the gas located in the region”. However,
these projects have progressed. he noted that no approval has yet been given for
There are several existing fields in the their establishment.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 06•July•2022