Page 10 - MEOG Week 48 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Iraq inaugurates Basra Energy Co.,

signs off Rumaila development

IRAQ IRAQI officials last week attended a ceremony is currently 1.45mn bpd, representing 39% of
to inaugurate the new Basra Energy Company total Iraqi production. He noted that BEC “will
Ltd (BEC) joint venture (JV) between BP and have a high flexibility to finance the develop-
PetroChina, which has taken over as the main ment projects of the Rumaila field to reach peak
contractor for the development of the super-gi- production”.
ant Rumaila oilfield. Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar added that
BEC was formed to replace the Rumaila Rumaila is “one of the most important oilfields
Operating Organisation (ROO) and as part of in Iraq and the world, where the company will
efforts by BP to spin off its Iraqi operations into finance its activities from the profits and contri-
a new entity as the company shifts from direct butions of the founding companies”.
to indirect involvement amid a reposition away Meanwhile, BP’s Iraq country manager and
from hydrocarbons. BEC representative Zaid Al-Yasiri noted that the
Following a 2014 renegotiation of the plateau has now been set at 1.7mn bpd.
Rumaila technical services contract (TSC), BP With BP having signed a contract with the
owned 47.63% in ROO, with China National Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) in August for the drill-
Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) subsidiary Pet- ing of 30 wells, the field’s developers appear to be
roChina holding 46.37% and Iraq’s state oil mar- working towards the same 2027 date Baghdad
keter SOMO 6%. has set for raising oil production capacity from
The original 20-year long-term technical ser- the current 5mn bpd to 8mn bpd by 2027.
vice contract (TSC), which was awarded to the
companies in 2009 as part of Iraq’s first licens- Another IDC award
ing round, was also extended and now expires Elsewhere, the IDC signed a contract with US
in 2034. oilfield services specialist Schlumberger for
The TSC agreement set an original plateau the drilling of 37 wells at the Zubair field under
production target of 2.85mn barrels per day with development by Italy’s Eni.
a maximum remuneration fee of $2 per barrel, IDC’s director-general Basem Abdul Karim
though this was reduced to 2.1mn bpd as part said that the company would utilise the IDC
of the 2014 negotiations. Rumaila is believed to 37 and IDC 38 rigs for the work, targeting the
hold remaining combined proven reserves and Mishrif, Nahr Bin Umar and Zubair reservoirs
2C resources of around 14-15bn barrels of oil. in the field.
During the ceremony, Khaled Hamza, direc- Zubair currently produces around 475,000
tor-general Basra Oil Co. (BOC), a subsidiary bpd and the latest drilling campaign will contrib-
of the recently re-established Iraqi National ute towards efforts to increase output to 850,000
Oil Co. (INOC), said that output from the field bpd by 2027.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 01•December•2021