Page 9 - MEOG Week 49 2021

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

talks by European intermediaries, an indirect The Trump sanctions have caused Iran
approach made necessary because the Iranians immense economic damage and there are hard-
refuse to deal with the Americans face to face. liners who say it will never be possible to trust
Iran has increasingly breached the JCPOA the West, thus Iran should continue on a path
since, in May 2018, then US president Donald of self-reliance and resilience, with a focus on
Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the economic potential that can be realised via trade
agreement, even though Iran at the time was in and investment with Russia, China, other parts
full compliance with it in the assessment of UN of Eurasia and beyond. At the same time, there
nuclear inspectors. are no guarantees that such a long and arduous
Arguing the deal should be tighter, Trump path would prove fruitful enough and, with
hit Iran with swingeing economic sanctions in growing discontent in Iranian society over a lack
an attempt at forcing Tehran to accept tougher of economic opportunities, other voices argue
curbs on its nuclear activities, as well as restric- that Iran needs to come back into compliance
tions on its ballistic missile programme and a with the JCPOA to quickly unlock wider trade
withdrawal of Iranian support for various mil- and investment possibilities.
itant groups in various Middle East conflict One concern of EU diplomats at the talks is
zones. that Iran’s proposals require the US to lift some
sanctions imposed by President Joe Biden that
Thin acknowledgement are unrelated to the nuclear deal. The US is likely
The hardline government that came into office to baulk at that.
in August in Iran is clearly unhappy at the thin Mohammed Morandi, a member of the Ira-
acknowledgement from the E3 and the US when nian negotiating team in Vienna who serves as
it comes to the fact that it was the Americans the team’s spokesperson, accused Biden of crit-
who wrecked the application of the JCPOA in icising Trump’s policy of maximum pressure
the first place by abandoning it even though it against Iran but then sticking with the same
was functioning as required. policy.™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

IDC continues signing drilling contracts

IRAQ THE state-owned Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) has projects in a turnkey manner for the benefit
continued to sign contracts for field work as of international companies operating Iraqi
Baghdad pushes ahead with plans to increase oil oilfields”.
production capacity. The partners also agreed to drill 37 wells at
IDC this week signed a contract with US the Zubair field being developed by Italy’s Eni.
services specialist Weatherford to collaborate Karim said that the company would utilise IDC
on drilling and reclamation serves and to install 37 and IDC 38 rigs for the work, targeting the
new systems. Mishrif, Nahr Bin Umar and Zubair reservoirs
The deal was announced by the Ministry of in the field.
Oil (MoO), which quoted IDC director-general Zubair currently produces around 475,000
Basem Abdul Karim Nasser as saying that the barrels per day and the latest drilling campaign
contract would contribute “to raising the level of will contribute towards efforts to increase output
the company’s performance”. to 850,000 bpd by 2027.
Under the terms of the contract, the compa- In August, IDC signed a contract to carry out
nies will collaborate on system and programme work on the Rumaila field, where production is
installation as well as knowledge and technol- currently flowing at around 1.45mn bpd. During
ogy exchange and the provision of associated last week’s inauguration of the Basra Energy Co.
services. (BEC) joint venture between BP and PetroChina,
The MoO noted that IDC has already which has assumed the role of lead contractor, it
“strengthened its field activities and the suc- was announced that the production plateau has
cesses it has achieved in terms of quality of per- now been set at 1.7mn bpd, up from the current
formance and completion of projects in record 1.45mn bpd. BP signed a contract with IDC for
times”. the drilling of 30 wells as the field’s developers
A week earlier, the company signed a similar work to contribute to Baghdad’s efforts to raise
deal with Schlumberger to provide “support for oil production from the current 5mn bpd to 8mn
the implementation of drilling and reclamation bpd by 2027.™

Week 49 08•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9