1 June 2007 Iraq has missed a May 31 deadline to approve the country’s first hydrocarbon law since regime change in 2003 — but in Iraqi terms, that’s no big deal. Every other deadline pushed by the US administration in the past four years for rebuilding the country’s institutions has also been missed. But for Iraq’s dilapidated oil sector, the delay is pushing back some initiatives that could provide a…
Tag: West Qurna
Iraq’s Emerging Alliances
24 August 2007 When Iraq eventually opens again for upstream business, the new rule in town will be competitive bidding — as opposed to former one-on-one negotiations. In effect, this will throw the game open to all for giant fields previously negotiated by international firms, such as West Qurna, Majnoon and Nahr bin Umar. Alliances have already emerged between some companies — including Russian Lukoil and US ConocoPhillips, Chevron with…
Power Struggle in South Iraq
31 August 2007 British forces, in control of southern Iraq since 2003, are expected to complete their withdrawal from Basrah in September and redeploy to a desert airbase, having already exited most urban centers in the last year. The move is interpreted by some as a prelude to a full British military withdrawal from Iraq, and a fight for supremacy is already raging in Iraq’s oil heartland among competing political…
Iraq Focuses On Pilot Projects To Counter Big Field Declines
8 July 2005 Iraq’s South Oil Co. (SOC) is launching a handful of pilot production projects at oil fields in southern Iraq, in an attempt to compensate for declines at its large producing fields, according to local industry sources. The big-field problems have been exacerbated by a lack of funds for drilling new wells and working over existing wells, as well as delays in implementing water injection projects. The major…