Page 5 - MEOG Week 36 2022

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

of 18 months. IDC has 43 drilling and workover Exports ran at 3.643mn bpd including vol-
rigs in operation across Iraqi oilfields. umes trucked into Jordan and Kirkuk crude
Nasiriyah was shut in during February blended with Kurdish grades and sold by the
after protesters blocked workers’ access to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). How-
site. Capacity at the field is believed to stand at ever, exports via Kurdistan fell by 45,000 bpd,
around 70,000 bpd, produced from the Mishrif with a 25,000-bpd uptick from Federal areas
formation, though production over the last two failing to offset the drop.
years has been hamstrung by Baghdad’s efforts BOC had been hoping to increase the export
to comply with OPEC+ output restrictions. The capacity at ABOT by around 150,000 bpd during
field has estimated reserves of 4bn barrels. Q2, but delays in improving flows to the facility
DQOC also oversees the development of the have pushed the completion date back. ABOT
Subba field and has been in discussions with US has a current capacity of 3.35mn bpd, which Iraq
major Chevron for oil exploration elsewhere in uses almost in its entirety.
the governorate, though talks have been paused In mid-July, Reuters quoted a local industry
in February until a new government has been source as saying that infrastructure allows for
appointed in Baghdad. exports of just 3.3mn bpd from ABOT, but BOC
IDC also recently completed work drilling the had hoped to increase this to 3.45mn bpd by the
J120P well at the Al-Gharraf oilfield, reaching a end of June.
total depth of 3,037 metres, with two further This has now been revised to 3.35mn bpd in
wells completed in July at Majnoon and Zubair. August and 3.45mn bpd. However, the source
Abdul Karim explained that the MJ-136 well was said: “I’m not sure if BOC can meet this dead-
drilled for Majnoon’s operator the Basra Oil Co. line due to the delay in the [pumping stations]
(BOC) as part of a 43-well campaign in collab- project.”
oration with Halliburton, while the ZB-536 well BOC is also working to rehabilitate two pipe-
was drilled for Zubair’s Italian operator Eni in lines that feed the nearby Khor al-Amaya Oil
just 22 days. Terminal (KAAOT). Ruptures in the conduits
forced the terminal to go offline in 2017 and
Production increase only return to operations briefly in the interven-
Also this week, the state oil marketer Somo ing period.
reported that Iraqi oil output had increased The export figures follow the leak of KRG
by 1% during August, in line with its OPEC+ documents warning that without further invest-
production quota following three months of ment, the region’s oil production could fall from
overproduction. around 430,000 bpd to just 240,000 bpd by 2027.
Crude flowed at 4.651mn bpd in August, Documents shown to Reuters last week sug-
up from 4.584mn bpd a month earlier, though gested that sufficient investment could see out-
exports actually fell as Somo faced issues export- put reach 580,000 bpd, providing 530,000 bpd
ing oil through the Al-Basrah Oil Terminal for export. However, given the precarious nature
(ABOT), meaning that the additional output was of dealing with the KRG for energy sector play-
consumed locally or put into storage. 35,000 bpd ers, bookmakers would likely offer long odds on
of crude was burned for electricity generation. such a figure being met.™

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