Page 7 - MEOG Week 05 2022

MEOG PRICES & PERFORMANCE MEOG

Iraqi ministry provides sector updates

IRAQ IRAQ and its state oil apparatus this week pro- year which covers the development of oil, gas
vided significant oil-related updates while offer- and solar projects as well as a seawater supply
ing clarity on plans for gas field development. facility in Basra governorate that will facilitate
The Ministry of Oil (MoO) reported that total oil production expansion.
Iraqi oil exports amounted to 99.3mn barrels in The MoO clarified that the Iraqi National Oil
January, down more than 2% compared to the Co. (INOC) would take a 40% stake in all four
December level of 101.6mn barrels. elements of the project, which targets an increase
The January figures comprise 3.11mn barrels of 125,000 bpd of oil, 600mn cubic feet (17mn
per day of oil exported from central and south- cubic metres) per day of gas, 1,000 MW of solar
ern fields and another 82,120 bpd of oil from energy and 5mn bpd of water supply.
fields around Kirkuk. One of Iraq’s key ‘free gas’ development con-
The December split was 3.18mn bpd and tracts was awarded to China’s Sinopec in April
87,000 bpd respectively, with the drop in Kirkuk last year, focusing on the Mansouriyah field in
exports via Turkey caused by an explosion on the Diyala Governorate.
Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline which saw the conduit The field is located 110 km north-east from
closed on January 18 and 19. Baghdad, and with estimated reserves of 4.6
The KRG also exports around 340,000 bpd, trillion cubic feet (130bn cubic metres) it is a
which is not accounted for in these figures. major component in Iraq’s efforts to kick-start
Despite the fall in exports, the federal gov- the build-out of its gas sector.
ernment’s revenues rose by nearly $900mn com- MoO spokesman Assem Jihad this week told
pared to December, thanks to an increase in the the Iraqi News Agency that the field’s develop-
realised price per barrel of crude of almost $10.5 ment will proceed “after the approval of the next
to $83.25. cabinet”.
State oil marketer Somo’s director-general Ali Jihad explained: “After the approval, the final
Nizar told reporters this week that exports are signing will take place, and then the company
likely to expand to around 3.3mn bpd in Febru- will begin the work of developing the field for
ary as OPEC+ restrictions continue to ease and pipelines and related projects.”
Iraq pushes ahead with its plans to raise produc- Targeting production of 300 mmcf (8.5 mcm)
tion capacity by 3mn bpd in the next five years. per day, Sinopec was awarded a 51% stake in the
The country’s OPEC+ production quota will development contract, with INOC subsidiary
rise by 44,000 bpd in February to 4.325mn bpd. Midland Oil Co. (MOC) holding the remainder.
When awarding the contract, Oil Minister
Gas plans Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said that the contract rep-
Alongside its oil capacity aims is an ambitious resented “an addition to the investment of free
plan to increase gas availability for power gen- gas from the Mansouriya field, which is the sec-
eration through independent gas E&P and the ond-largest gas field in Iraq”.
capture of gas associated with oil production, A contract to develop the field had been
much of which is currently flared. awarded to an international consortium led by
A development that will be key to Baghdad Turkey’s TPAO in 2010. The contract was held
meeting these targets is moving closer to frui- by TPAO (37.5%), Kuwait Energy Co. (22.5%),
tion, with the MoO noting that it will enter the state-owned Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS, 15%)
“execution phase” of its wide-ranging, $27bn and Baghdad’s representative MOC (25%). This
deal with TotalEnergies during Q1 this year. set a plateau production target of 320 mmcf (9.1
The French firm signed off on the deal last mcm) per day.™

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