Now that the fourth bid round is wrapped and closed with just one gas exploration block awarded in addition to two oil exploration blocks, it is time for Iraq’s oil ministry to draw lessons from the lackluster bid round and devise new ways to explore the Western Desert, thought to contain much of Iraq’s gas potential. The first lesson to draw is that upstream companies are not service companies, ready…
Tag: Al-Ameedi
Bid Round Four Results
Block 1 Bidders & Bids: None Ministry’s maximum acceptable Remuneration fee: – Location: The block lies within the northwestern part of Iraq, about 100 km west of Mosul by the Syria-Iraq border and covers an area of around 7,300 km2. Geology: Located in Rutba-Jezira tectonic zone, large structures remain undrilled. Two wells have been drilled in the north and the south of the block. Oil was tested from the Miocene and…
To Bid or Not To Bid
The first day of Iraq’s oil ministry’s fourth bid round confirmed what many people, including those who worked on the model technical service contract, had expected: conducting exploration and development on the terms offered under these contracts is going to be a hard sale. Kuwait Energy with its partners, Turkey’s TPAO and UAE’s Dragon Oil, was willing to play by what’s on the table to secure Block 9 because it…
Abdul Mahdi Al-Ameedi
Abdul Mahdi al-Ameedi, director general of Iraq’s oil ministry’s Petroleum Contracts & Licensing Dept. (PCLD), sheds light on the ministry’s fourth bid round scheduled for May30-31, and the service contract on offer, its advantages and shortcomings, in an interview with IOF editor Ruba Husari in Baghdad. (للنص العربي اضغط هنا) Q: Offering a service contract type with a fixed fee for oil and gas exploration work is unusual and almost…