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MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG
Details emerge about
Chevron’s potential Iraq deal
IRAQ MIDDLE East Oil & Gas (MEOG) can exclu- that would have included a 150,000 bpd refinery
sively reveal the intentions behind Chevron’s as well as the upstream development.
framework deal with Iraq’s Ministry of Oil According to Iraq’s oil minister, Ihsan
(MoO), which was announced last week. Ismaael, oil production from Thi Qar is currently
The US firm last week said it had agreed a 200,000 bpd, representing a substantial increase
vague deal that would see it enter into exclusive from last year. Total 2019 output from Th i Qar
negotiations for an exploration, development Province is thought to have been around 95,000
and production contract in the southern Thi bpd from a combination of the Nassiriya and
Qar Province. Subba oilfields.
A senior official in the Iraqi government told The MoO has previously spoken of inten-
MEOG that the MoO will create two teams: one tions for the fi eld to produce above 100,000 bpd,
that will be responsible for technical studies and though the ministry clearly has far loft ier ambi-
another that will be responsible for commercial tions for Th i Qar. Th ese align with the target out-
discussions with Chevron for a mega project in lined by Ismaael last week when he said that Iraq
Th i Qar. would increase oil production capacity to 7mn
The proposal is reported to focus on the fur- bpd by 2025, while also reducing gas flaring and
ther development of the Nassiriya oilfield, which gas imports to zero.
currently has a production capacity of 90,000 Meanwhile, state-owned North Oil Co.
barrels per day (bpd) of crude from an estimated (NOC) is working to redevelop the Kirkuk fi elds
4.36bn barrels of recoverable reserves. in order to achieve a sustainable production pla-
The source said that the first stage of the plan teau of 300,000-450,000 bpd. Th e fi elds – Kirkuk,
was to assess the previous exploration work car- Bai Hassan, Jambur, Khabbaz and Ajil – have
ried out in the region by the Iraqi Oil Exploration an estimated combined production capacity of
Co. (IOEC) in order to determine the area for nearly 500,000 bpd, though this has fl uctuated
development. wildly since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990,
From that point, the aim would be to proceed when sanctions were imposed on Baghdad.
to expand production from Thi Qar to 1mn bpd, Since then, it has suffered from sabotage and
and the source suggested that once this level is infrastructure attacks during fi rst the US inva-
reached, efforts will resume to ramp up down- sion, and more recently, the ISIS insurgency.
stream capabilities. The Nassiriyah field had pre- Output from Kirkuk peaked at around 1.4mn
viously been envisioned as an integrated project bpd in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 02•September•2020
