Page 10 - MEOG Week 01 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Iraq maintains drilling push into New Year

IRAQ THE state-owned Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) has Faqqa and Noor, with IDC signing a contract
maintained momentum from 2021 into the New last year with China National Offshore Oil
Year, completing work on a well in the north of Co. (CNOOC) to drill 150 at the governorate’s
the country and kicking off a new well in the Buzurgan field.
south-east. Meanwhile, in September, MOC and its
The drilling push comes as Baghdad seeks Chinese partner in the Halfaya oilfield, China
to achieve a 3mn barrel per day oil production National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) subsidiary
increase to 8mn bpd by 2027. PetroChina, said that they remain committed
The Ministry of Oil (MoO) announced last to projects under the field’s third development
week that IDC had completed the first of 10 well phase to achieve the 400,000 bpd production
reclamation jobs at the Khabbaz oilfield in the plateau agreed when plans for the field’s devel-
northern Kirkuk Governorate on behalf of the opment were revised in 2013.
state-owned North Oil Co (NOC), a subsidiary Halfaya is located 35 km south of the city of
of the newly reformed Iraq National Oil Co. Amarah and has estimated oil reserves of 4.1bn
(INOC). barrels. Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG) under-
In a statement published by the MoO, IDC’s stands that the full cost of extraction at Halfaya
director-general Basem Abdul Karim Nasser is $15 per barrel, against an average of $5 per
said that operations at Khabbaz 39 had included barrel across other Iraqi fields, including capital
“lowering the subsurface control valves to restart expenditure. Output is estimated to be running
the well and preserve it from sabotage and ter- at around 190,000 bpd.
rorist operations”. He noted that the IDC 206 rig
had been used, adding that another unit would Gharraf attack
be mobilised to the field in order to speed up To the west of Halfaya, Chinese contractors
work to complete the remaining wells. working on the Gharraf oilfield came under fire
Khabbaz, which is understood to be capa- last week as gunfire and a rocket targeted com-
ble of producing around 25,000 bpd, is among pany premises.
several northern fields operated by NOC under China’s Zongman Petroleum and Natural
state control, along with the Baba and Jambur Gas Group (ZPEC) reported that the attack had
assets. In late 2020, bombs were detonated at the occurred just 200 metres from its Gharraf base.
field, targeting two wells and reducing output by The company began drilling a new well under
around 4,000 bpd. a contract with Malaysian operator Petronas,
To the south, meanwhile, IDC has kicked off which is seeking to increase output from the
drilling operations at the Amarah oilfield’s well current 70,000 bpd to 230,000 bpd. ZPEC said:
#19 at in Missan Governorate for another INOC “At present, all of the company’s projects in Iraq
subsidiary, this time Missan Oil Co. (MOC). are in normal operation.”
The well is expected to be drilled to a total Meanwhile, AFP quoted a company official as
depth of 3,290 metres with IDC using its IDC saying that the attack was a form of “extortion” to
23 rig to target the Mishrif formation. Mishrif pressurise the company to hire more locals. “The
is among three reservoirs covered by a contract company insists on localisation of employment,
signed in Q4 2021 between IDC and Italy’s Eni actively fulfils its social responsibility and pro-
for the development of the 6.4bn barrel Zubair motes local employment, and currently employs
oilfield. IDC will use its IDC 37 and 38 rigs to 320 local staff in Iraq,” ZPEC said.
drill 37 wells across the asset. “The company will strengthen communica-
Amarah is one of several fields that com- tion with the local security authorities and raise
prise the Missan Oil Fields concession, which is the security level to ensure the safe operation of
overseen by MOC. Other assets are Abu Ghraib, the project in Iraq,” ZPEC said.™

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