Page 10 - MEOG Week 37

MEOG POLICY MEOG

US to challenge ICJ jurisdiction in Iran case

IRAN LAWYERS representing the US are expected Washington has already cancelled under the
on Monday to reject the jurisdiction of the UN’s Trump administration. However, that move is
highest court to resolve a case brought for- not retroactive and has now bearing on this case.
ward by Iran seeking to remove US unilateral The court will once again commence in the
sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Reuters Hague and the case will only deal with the pre-
reported. liminary matter of the case and not the wider
Iran previously brought forward the case to situation.
the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in 2018, Judges at the International Court of Justice
asking the court to force the US to remove sanc- (ICJ) on February 13, 2019, ruled that the UN
tions targeting it as it breaches a forgotten 1955 body has authority to hear a claim by Iran to
friendship treaty signed in the era before the recover $1.75bn in assets frozen by Washington.
Islamic Revolution of 1979. Washington pulled The case filed in June 2016 is focused on assets
out of that deal in 2019, citing it no longer held from the Iranian central bank (CBI) seized by
water due to years of tensions between the two US courts to compensate families of victims of
powers. a 1983 bombing of a US Marine Corps base in
Washington has said the other aim of Iran Beirut which Washington blames on Iran. Iran
is to get unilateral sanctions against it removed denies involvement in the attack which killed
and force the US back into the 2015 Joint Com- 307 people, including 241 US military personnel.
prehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which saw In making its ruling, The Hague-based World
sanctions relief on the country. Court also rejected pleas from Washington that
The US argued to the ICJ that Iran based its Tehran would use the money to fund terrorism,
claims on an outdated 1955 Amity Treaty which AFP reported.™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

DNO makes gas progress in Kurdistan

KURDISTAN NORWAY’S DNO last week announced that it Our project was completed on schedule and on
had injected a total of 1bn cubic feet (28mn cubic budget notwithstanding the challenges of work-
metres) of gas captured by its $110mn Peshkabir ing in what is still a frontier oil and gas operating
Gas Capture and Injection project in the Tawke environment and the obstacles posed in the late
licence in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, stages by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
where it is partnered by Genel Energy. The company added that gas flaring at the
The company said that the project was Peshkabir field has been reduced by more than
expected to reduce emissions from its operated 75% and works is underway to reduce it further,
production by more than 300,000 tonnes per noting that injected Peshkabir gas produced at
year (tpy) of CO2 equivalent. the Tawke field will be recovered and recycled
After coming into operation on June 2020, into the latter or used as fuel to displace diesel.
the development has halved the average carbon DNO cited reservoir models as suggesting
intensity from DNO’s operated production. This that gas injection will increase gross Tawke field
has brought it from 14 kg of CO2e for each barrel recoverable volume by 15-80mn barrels of oil, of
of oil equivalent produced (kg CO2e/boe) to 7 which 23mn barrels are included in the compa-
kg CO2e/boe. This compares with an industry ny’s gross proven and probable (2P) Tawke field
average of 18 kg CO2e/boe. By comparison, in reserves.
2019 Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest producer, In Q1, the company’s working interest pro-
reported an upstream carbon intensity of 10.1kg duction averaged 99,857 barrels of oil equiv-
CO2e/boe. alent per day, of which Kurdistan contributed
The project entails the gathering, treating and 81,221 boepd, with 18,636 boepd coming from
transportation of 20mn cubic feet (566,000 cubic the North Sea. Gross production at Tawke and
metres) of previously flared gas from the Peshk- Peshkabir averaged 61,493 bpd and 53,714 bpd
abir field, 80 km by pipeline to the Tawke field. respectively as DNO hit the brakes on spending.
DNO said that engineering and construction After completing five development wells in the
works were kicked off in mid-2018. licence during the quarter, DNO released four
In a press release, Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, drilling rigs in Kurdistan but continues to utilise
DNO’s executive chairman, said: “Gas injection the company-operated workover rig to service
and the associated carbon capture and storage production wells, some of which were shut in
is proven, practical and potentially profitable. given current oil prices and payment delays.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 37 16•September•2020