Page 11 - MEOG Week 11 2023

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

IDC completes first well at East Baghdad

IRAQ THE Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) announced last The East Baghdad concession was offered
week that it had completed the drilling of a well for development by IOCs during Iraq’s second
at the East Baghdad oilfield, to the south-east of licensing round in December 2009 but received
the capital city. no bids, prompting Baghdad to proceed alone to
In a statement, the company said that its tech- rehabilitate and raise production at the field.
nical and engineering teams had drilled the EBS- While operated by North Oil Co. (NOC) it
H-18 well to a depth of 3,509 metres, noting that was among the central fields brought under the
it was the first of a 27-well drilling campaign tar- development auspices of the Midland Oil Co.
geting the field for its Chinese operator EBS – a (MOC) on its creation in 2010, alongside other
local Iraqi subsidiary of China ZhenHua Oil Co. fields in the provinces of Anbar, Babil, Diyala,
Ltd, itself a subsidiary of the state-owned China Diwaniyah, Karbala and Wasit.
North Industries Group (Norinco). IDC is work- Despite output potential estimated at 400,000
ing with China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL) on bpd, current production stands well below this
the campaign. The Iraqi firm noted that opera- largely because most of the field lies under or
tions were carried out using the IDC 36 rig. close to residential areas of the capital, including
EBS is involved in the development of the the volatile Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City.
10,000 barrel per day East Baghdad asset as well Output, which began in 1989, feeds the ageing
as the 130,000 bpd Ahdab field. Daura refinery serving the capital.
It is understood to be working to ramp up East Baghdad was one of two giant fields that
production to a target of 50,000 bpd from the Baghdad declared in 2010 would be developed
8bn-barrel field, which is one of many assets by the government rather than IOCs, the other
where Iraq is looking to raise capacity as part of being Kirkuk – also sensitive since it lies partly
a state effort to reach 7mn bpd by 2027 from the in federally-controlled territory and partly in the
current level of just under 5mn bpd, with IDC autonomous area run by the Kurdistan Regional
leading the drilling push. Government (KRG).™

Week 11 15•March•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P11