Iraq to open new offshore oil terminal
Iraq plans to start operating “in days” the first of four new offshore terminals for tankers as OPEC’s third-largest producer sets its next energy licensing round for March 7-8 in Baghdad, an Oil Ministry official said, Bloomberg reports.
Iraq will also seek bids to build two pipelines to export crude oil through neighboring Syria in a project estimated to cost $2.2 billion, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, director-general of the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s licensing department, said today at a conference in Amman. Iraq’s revenue mainly comes from oil sales.
It’s not clear if the unrest convulsing Syria would impede the pipeline plans. Iraq holds the fifth-biggest natural-gas reserves in the Middle East and the world’s fifth-largest crude deposits, according to BP Plc (BP/) data that include Canadian oil sands. Iraq has signed 15 gas and oil licenses since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted former President Saddam Hussein.
The government needs foreign investment and expertise to boost energy exports and rebuild an economy shattered by years of conflict, sanctions and sabotage. Iraq will uphold agreements it has with Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) “for now,” al-Ameedi said, even after Exxon signed contracts the government considers illegal with authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
‘Considering Measures’
The central government “is considering measures” in response to Exxon’s contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government, he said, declining to specify the measures or to rule out punitive steps at a later date. The Baghdad government and the Kurds are entangled in a dispute over revenue from crude produced at Kurdish fields.
Exxon, which has not commented publicly on the matter, is operating with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) in southern Iraq at the West Qurna field, one of the nation’s biggest.
The first of four single-point mooring facilities off the coast of southern Iraq will add 900,000 barrels a day of exporting capacity for crude, al-Ameedi said. Three more offshore export terminals with similar capacity are due to start operating within months.
Iraq exported crude at an average rate of 2.135 million barrels a day in November, Falah Al-Amri, the director of the State Oil-Marketing Organization, said Dec. 1. It produced an average of 2.705 million barrels a day last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Pipeline Sabotaged
Iraq is exporting crude at “normal levels” after a sabotage attack yesterday on a pipeline near the southern hub of Basra, Asim Jihad, a ministry spokesman, said today. The explosion did not affect exports as Iraq has enough spare storage, and crude flow has been diverted to an undamaged pipeline, Jihad said in a phone interview in Baghdad.
Iraqi officials are holding a workshop in Amman with the 46 companies qualified to bid in the March auction for 12 exploration areas. Companies can submit comments to the ministry until Jan. 6 and final tender protocols will be issued Feb. 3, al-Ameedi said.
The concessions, seven for oil and five for gas, cover 80,700 square kilometers (31,200 square miles), according to the ministry. They contain 29 billion cubic meters of gas and 10 billion barrels of crude, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said in March. The companies include Shell, BP, Exxon and Total SA. (FP)
Iraq is working to raise crude output to 3 million barrels a day by the end of this year from 2.4 million barrels a day in 2010, al-Luaibi said on Nov. 1. Export capacity should reach 2.6 million barrels a day in early 2012 from 1.89 million barrels at the end of last year, he said.
The two planned pipelines, valued at $2.2 billion, will run from Basra in southern Iraq to the Syrian port of Banias, al- Ameedi said. Iraq also plans new networks with neighboring Iran and Turkey.
Iraq will also seek bids to build two pipelines to export crude oil through neighboring Syria in a project estimated to cost $2.2 billion, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, director-general of the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s licensing department, said today at a conference in Amman. Iraq’s revenue mainly comes from oil sales.
It’s not clear if the unrest convulsing Syria would impede the pipeline plans. Iraq holds the fifth-biggest natural-gas reserves in the Middle East and the world’s fifth-largest crude deposits, according to BP Plc (BP/) data that include Canadian oil sands. Iraq has signed 15 gas and oil licenses since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted former President Saddam Hussein.
The government needs foreign investment and expertise to boost energy exports and rebuild an economy shattered by years of conflict, sanctions and sabotage. Iraq will uphold agreements it has with Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) “for now,” al-Ameedi said, even after Exxon signed contracts the government considers illegal with authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
‘Considering Measures’
The central government “is considering measures” in response to Exxon’s contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government, he said, declining to specify the measures or to rule out punitive steps at a later date. The Baghdad government and the Kurds are entangled in a dispute over revenue from crude produced at Kurdish fields.
Exxon, which has not commented publicly on the matter, is operating with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) in southern Iraq at the West Qurna field, one of the nation’s biggest.
The first of four single-point mooring facilities off the coast of southern Iraq will add 900,000 barrels a day of exporting capacity for crude, al-Ameedi said. Three more offshore export terminals with similar capacity are due to start operating within months.
Iraq exported crude at an average rate of 2.135 million barrels a day in November, Falah Al-Amri, the director of the State Oil-Marketing Organization, said Dec. 1. It produced an average of 2.705 million barrels a day last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Pipeline Sabotaged
Iraq is exporting crude at “normal levels” after a sabotage attack yesterday on a pipeline near the southern hub of Basra, Asim Jihad, a ministry spokesman, said today. The explosion did not affect exports as Iraq has enough spare storage, and crude flow has been diverted to an undamaged pipeline, Jihad said in a phone interview in Baghdad.
Iraqi officials are holding a workshop in Amman with the 46 companies qualified to bid in the March auction for 12 exploration areas. Companies can submit comments to the ministry until Jan. 6 and final tender protocols will be issued Feb. 3, al-Ameedi said.
The concessions, seven for oil and five for gas, cover 80,700 square kilometers (31,200 square miles), according to the ministry. They contain 29 billion cubic meters of gas and 10 billion barrels of crude, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said in March. The companies include Shell, BP, Exxon and Total SA. (FP)
Iraq is working to raise crude output to 3 million barrels a day by the end of this year from 2.4 million barrels a day in 2010, al-Luaibi said on Nov. 1. Export capacity should reach 2.6 million barrels a day in early 2012 from 1.89 million barrels at the end of last year, he said.
The two planned pipelines, valued at $2.2 billion, will run from Basra in southern Iraq to the Syrian port of Banias, al- Ameedi said. Iraq also plans new networks with neighboring Iran and Turkey.
