Page 8 - MEOG Week 45

MEOG PERFORMANCE MEOG

JAPEX expects delay in

reaching Gharraf target

IRAQ JAPAN Petroleum Exploration (JAPEX) said the current level of around 90,000 bpd.
this week that it does not expect to achieve the A company spokesman told S&P Global
plateau target at the Gharraf field in Iraq’s south- Platts that gross production had averaged 75,000
ern Dhi Qar Province by the end of this year as bpd during Q1, though this dropped to 40,000-
was agreed in approved plans for the field. 50,000 bpd in recent months in line with Iraq’s
The field in southern Iraq was shut in March efforts to comply with OPEC+ cuts.
because of COVID-19, and returned to produc- JAPEX also noted that the crude oil sales vol-
tion at a rate of 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) in ume from Gharraf had decreased by 74.7% year
late July. on year.
The Japanese company, which holds a 30% The spokesman said that JAPEX intends to
equity share in the asset, noted in its April-Sep- take cargoes of 1mn barrels of equity crude from
tember financial results: “due to restrictions on the Gharraf in December and March 2021 after
transfer and other factors, the additional devel- lifting its latest million-barrel shipment in June.
opment to increase the production volume to a In October, Petronas said it was reviewing
scale of 230,000 bpd, which was expected at the its position in Gharraf, as margins have been
end of 2020, is likely to be delayed to later years.” squeezed by low oil prices.
The plateau is unchanged from that man- The company’s CEO, Tengku Muhammad
dated by the original technical service contract Taufik Aziz, said: “Under the $40 per barrel
(TSC) in 2009, but the target date for its achieve- scenario, I’d be the first to admit that under all
ment was pushed back to Q4 2020, from 2017. possible lenses we’ve had to trigger a review of
The Japanese company is a 30% equity part- our intent to stay on in Gharraf … I can only say
ner in the field alongside operator Petronas of watch this space.”
Malaysia (45%) and Iraq’s state-owned North Tengku Muhammad Taufik added: “We are
Oil Co. (NOC). The partners had agreed the in consultation with the host authorities to see
revised development plan with the Ministry of whether the economics [of Gharraf] can be
Oil (MoO) in April. The so-called Final Devel- improved, but of course, over and above that, we
opment Plan, which was approved by Baghdad, need to make sure it makes sense from a sustain-
stipulates that capacity should be increased from ability lens as well.”™

Rosneft pockets

$500mn in Kurdistan

KURDISTAN RUSSIAN oil major Rosneft, through its RN Rosneft’s investment in the pipeline
Middle East (RNME) Singapore-registered sub- amounted to $1.8bn, boosting Russia’s energy
sidiary, received $180mn worth of dividends investments in Iraqi Kurdistan to $3.5bn.
for 2019 from the joint venture Kurdistan Pipe- Vedomosti found that over two years RNME
line Company oil exports pipeline from Iraqi received $477mn worth of dividends overall,
Kurdistan to Turkey, Vedomosti daily reported which makes up a fourth of all its investment
on November 4 citing the financial reports of in joint ventures $1.8bn (RN-Batil, RN-Darato,
RNME. RN-Harir-Bejil, RN-Qasrok and RN-Zaw-
As reported by NewsBase, at the end of 2017 ita), with an additional $713mn investment in
Rosneft reiterated its commitment to developing subsidiaries.
ties with Iraqi Kurdistan. RNME holds 60% in Kurdistan Pipeline
In October 2017 the company agreed to Company, and another 40% held by KAR Group.
acquire a 60% stake in Iraqi Kurdistan’s main Analysts surveyed by the daily note the high
oil pipeline, which runs to the Turkish port of yields of the project for Rosneft, but also warn
Ceyhan. of the high risks of operations in Kurdistan.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 11•November•2020