Page 5 - MEOG Week 25
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MEOG Commentary MEOG
to the attack”.
Earlier this month, foreign employees of
ExxonMobil returned to work following an agreement by Baghdad to increase its security provision.
Around 60 workers had been evacuated from the West Qurna 1 oilfield, with Exxon- Mobil ying them to Dubai, while the US with- drew non-critical sta from its Iraq embassy in Baghdad amid growing concerns about Iran and Shi’ite proxies in Iraq.
Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad was quoted by AFP as saying that the US super-major had “accepted that the 83 employees evacuated will resume their posts” from June 9, noting that the local authorities had taken “the necessary secu- rity measures”.
Meanwhile, Moo o cials were quoted by Reuters as saying that the ministry had agreed to provide a greater police and army presence both at the drill site and living quarters, with the company receiving letters of assurance from the Moo and Basra oil Co. (BoC). However, with the latest rocket thought to have been red from 3-4 km away, local authorities have an uphill struggle ahead.
Co-operation with Kuwait
To the south-west, the picture is somewhat ros- ier. A corollary to a gradual improvement in relations with Kuwait over the past decade is the long-planned joint development of shared oil- elds along the common border. ese were a source of dispute for decades and now o er hope of contributing to both governments’ ambitious crude production targets.
Kuwait’s then-oil Minister Bakheet al-Rashidi revealed in August 2018 that a short- list had been drawn up of four consultants to advise on the development of the areas. Speak- ing on the sidelines of the organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (oAPEC) meeting in late December, Ghadhban said that a selection had been made – without naming the
chosen company.
He also asserted that an agreement on the
export of Kuwaiti gas to Iraq was imminent. Both parties have repeatedly made similar claims over the past year without nalisation of the deal – which would see exports starting at 0.517 bcm per year and rising to 2.07 bcm per year – but the urgency for Baghdad has been increased by US pressure to cease imports from Iran coupled with popular protests over power
shortages.
Iraq is also developing the Khudr al-Maa
oil block on the southern border, awarding an upstream contract to Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum on June 3, 2018.
Meanwhile, to the south, Kuwait discovered large reserves of Jurassic gas in the north of the country in the middle of last decade. A er lengthy delays over potential IoC involvement, it nally awarded three Boo contracts in 2016 to install early production systems (EPSs) at the East Raudhatain, West Raudhatain, Sabriya and Umm niqa elds.
e plants were commissioned by the US’ Schlumberger and the local Spetco in 2018 – each producing roughly 1 bcm per year of gas and 40,000 bpd of light oil.
KoC initially planned to carry out the second phase of development through a single EPC con- tract – tendering the estimated US$3.9 billion so-called Jurassic Gas 1 facility in September last year calling for a plant with capacity of 6.1 bcm per year at the Al-Ahmadi hydrocarbons hub near Kuwait City.
However, the tender was cancelled two months later in the wake of disputes over con- tracting strategy and – with the authorities hav- ing agreed to revert to dividing-up the scheme into several EPSs – the project was further delayed by disagreements between KoC and the government’s Central Authority for Pub- lic Tenders (CAPT) over the prequali cation process.
Week 25 25•June•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5
