Power Machine

The law establishing (or re-establishing) Iraq National Oil Co (INOC) has finally passed the first hurdle, by getting the approval of the council of ministers, not without some opposition as one would expect. After all, the new company to be established as a holding company with considerable powers is set to become the most important institution in the operation of Iraq’s oil sector due first to its structure and second…

Trickling Production

Things are happening at Nassiriya oil field in southern Iraq. The field, which accounts for some 4.3 billion barrels of oil reserves, has become the latest oil field to start production in recent days, albeit at a moderate pilot rate of 20,000 b/d. Nassiriya was discovered by Iraq National Oil Co (INOC) in 1975 and remained undeveloped for more than three decades after the drilling of the first exploration well…

Jabbar Al-Luaibi

Former Director General of South Oil Co and oil ministry advisor Jabbar al-Luaibi discusses in an interview with Ruba Husari in Dubai May 16, 2009 the state of the oil fields in southern Iraq and the reasons behind the recent loss in production capacity at Iraq’s major producing oil fields.   Q: You brought the oil sector back from the ashes in 2003 and ramped up production till you achieved…

Iraq Watch – Confused Priorities

26 September 2008 A second bid round for Iraq’s upstream sector, currently being prepared by the oil ministry, promises to transform the country’s oil industry. If all goes to plan, a second set of oil and gas fields would be awarded by the end of next year, hard on the heels of the first eight fields announced this summer — and the Iraqi oil industry will be bustling. That’s good…