Page 5 - MEOG Week 42 2022

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

B (between Nasiriyah and Gharraf); Area D This takes its total number of wells drilled or
(east of Nasiriyah) and Area E, which covers the reclaimed to 131 for the year.
marshlands of Dhi Qar. IDC Director General Basem Abdul Karim
told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “The techni-
Rumaila deal cal and engineering staff in the company com-
Meanwhile, China Petroleum Engineering pleted drilling well 51, with a depth of 2,109
and Construction (CPECC), the engineering metres.”
division of China National Petroleum Corp. The well is part of a 20-well drilling campaign
(CNPC), was awarded a contract by BP’s Basra being carried out by IDC in collaboration with
Energy Company Ltd (BEC) joint venture (JV) US services firm Weatherford at Nasiriyah on
with CNPC’s listed arm PetroChina, which behalf of the field’s operator, the state-owned Dhi
replaced the Rumaila Operating Organisation Qar Oil Co. (DQOC).
(ROO) as the field’s main contractor. Abdul Karim noted that drilling was carried
CPECC announced that it had received a out using the 1,000 horsepower IDC 46 drilling
$386mn engineering, procurement, construc- rig, noting that this is the fourth well drilled on
tion and commissioning (EPCC) deal for the the project. The first well (well #48) was com-
Mishrif Qurainat oil processing facility which pleted in July.
will enable the debottlenecking of production at Nasiriyah was shut in during February
Rumaila. The plant will have two 120,000 barrel after protesters blocked workers’ access to the
per day (bpd) processing trains. The contract site. Capacity at the field is believed to stand at
term is due to begin in mid-November and con- around 70,000 bpd, produced from the Mishrif
struction is scheduled to take around three years formation, though production over the last two
to complete. years has been hamstrung by Baghdad’s efforts
The deal is the latest in a string of major engi- to comply with OPEC+ output restrictions. The
neering awards for CPECC. It is of a similar scale field has estimated reserves of 4bn barrels.
to a $316mn job awarded by ExxonMobil in Feb- In a statement, DQOC said it had closed
ruary for the West Qurna-1 oilfield to the north, operations for a week owing to safety concerns
while the Chinese firm also won a $121mn deal about its workforce amid reports of violent pro-
in 2019 to upgrade facilities and increase the tests across the governorate by university gradu-
capture of flare gas at the field. In May this year, ates demanding job opportunities.
CPECC was hired by Baker Hughes to carry out DQOC also oversees the development of the
detailed design work on a plant to process gas Subba field and has been in discussions with US
associated with oil production from the Nasiri- major Chevron for oil exploration elsewhere
yah and Gharraf oilfields. in the governorate, though talks were paused
in February until a new government has been
Drilling update appointed in Baghdad.
Aside from these oilfield deals, the state-owned IDC’s ramping up of operations will play a key
Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) provided its latest role in Iraq achieving its ambitious oil capacity
update on operations, announcing that it had target of 8mn bpd by 2027, which represents an
completed a new well at Nasiriyah (well #51). increase of around 3mn bpd on current levels.™

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