Cursor International executes projects and collaboration activities across several industries.
By John Lee.
The Ministry of Oil’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) has published the templates for the contracts to be used for the 5th oil licensing round, the results of which were announced last week.
(Source: Ministry of Oil)
Under the Patronage of H.E Prime Minister, Dr. Haider Al Abadi, organized by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the National Investment Commission (NIC) in cooperation with Economy and Business Group, the Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Opportunities Forum was held in Baghdad on Thursday the 26th April witnessing a wide local, Arab and international participation.
Dr. Sami R Al Araji, Chairman of the National Investment Commission confirmed in his opening speech that this forum is completing what has been achieved in the Kuwait international conference held last February where 212 strategic and medium investment project were presented out of 1100 project in the investment map for 2018. This forum gave the opportunity to many businessmen who missed the chance to participate in the conference to discuss new projects in different fields.
It also witnessed singing memoranda of understanding and granting a number of investment licenses. He expressed his happiness for Iraq embracing more than 700 businessmen from public, private and international community.
Dr. Mehdi Al Alaq, the General Secretary of the Council of Ministers greeted the attendees on behalf of the Prime Minster and conveyed his wishes for more success and support for the economic sector to secure a safe investment environment.
He added, the resolutions issued by the Council of Minister before the Kuwait conference event confirmed the Prime Minister’s approached to support this vital sector, pointing at the efforts of the follow up team to organize the official obligations offered by countries and funds as discussions have already started to fulfill their commitment. He also expressed his faith that the next few months will witness a big reconstruction and investment activity supported by the government.
He was open to discuss any difficulties facing investors while he thanked all those who participated in launching this economic forum.
Mr. Nail Al Kabarity, chairman of the Arab Trade Chambers called to invest in Iraq because it enjoys an attracting environment, a promising market, and a governmental support. He added that Iraq needs more support from Arab countries, so the Arab Trade Chambers Union is happy to participate economic partnerships with Iraq in serving the Iraqi people who are the actual wealth in Iraq.
Representing the World Bank, Yara Salim confirmed the Bank commitment to support Iraq in its reconstruction campaign which is part of the international obligation towards Iraq in the Kuwait conference, she is already involved in several projects working on achieving this goal side by side with the National Investment Commission by PIC capacity building and developing investment attracting legislations to create an integrated investment environment. She added that the World Bank is currently working with the Central Bank of Iraq to fund and develop the vital sectors and invest in the human resources.
In his speech, Mr. Hatem Al Qawasmi, the executive partner and founder of KPMG determined three aspects for Iraq’s future: the first is the Iraqi economic features, the second is including the main investment opportunities while the third is a presentation of what his institution can offer Iraq.
He explained some of the strategic features of developing the Iraqi private sector for the next ten years due to its ability to develop the local economy and compete with counterparts in the region by developing the organizational structures for the state owned companies to cope with the new economic reality.
The first opening session included the Executive Chairman of Economy and Business Group Mr. R. Abo Zaki’s speech where he mentioned that Iraq is on the cross line at the present time, leaving behind years of war and destruction, looking forward a prosperous future and needs a long term economic plan that enhances investment in the private sector to work effectively with the international economy.
Six investment licenses were granted during the form, four of them were granted to DICO International Holding LTD (British) to develop the three main central malls in Baghdad while the forth was for Al Muftiya project in Basra Province (housing, recreational, commercial). The fifth and sixth licenses were granted to Al Ghaith Co. (UAE) to establish the Sodium hydroxide plant and food salt factory in Muthana Province.
The National Investment Commission singed three memoranda of understanding with investor Jawad Abo Khamees (Kuwaiti) to build hotels, service and commercials centers in Baghdad, Karbala and Saladin Provinces. A forth memoranda was singed with Qeewan Group and Jawad Al Qasab to build five stars hotel and a mall in Baghdad, while the fifth one was singed with Al Arabiya for Airports and 21st Century for Satellites Co.s.
The sixth and seventh memoranda were signed with Majd Al Ardh to build the economic zone in Baghdad and Dr. Rafii Ibrahim Al Rawi to develop Al Andalus Oncology Hospital in Baghdad.
The first session under the title (Partnership in Investment) attended by Mr .Ali Al Alaq, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Mr. Wadee Al Handhal, Chairman of the Private Iraqi Banks, Mr. Ahmed Al Qadhi from EY and Mohamed Al Mutawaa from Al Baraka Group where all discussed funding the infrastructure projects, foreign and Arab investment experiences in Iraq and partnership potentials with Arab and foreign countries.
The second session included the General Secretary of the Council of Minsters Dr. Mehdi Al Alaq speech regarding the procedures aiming at improving the investment environment in Iraq. Dr. Sami R. Al Araji presented the most important investment opportunities. Also there were two other speeches for Mr. Ahmed Al Wakeel and Saib Nahhas.
Round tables sessions started later in two parts, the first part was between the governmental agencies and the private sector (Iraqi and foreign) while the second part was among the governmental agencies, private sector and international agencies.
30 companies from public and private sector were represented in an exhibition along with the forum showing available opportunities in both sectors.
A number of ministers (Oil, Planning, Reconstruction and Housing, Trade, Central Bank of Iraq) attended the event in addition to a high level diplomatic representation for 30 Arab and foreign countries including ambassadors, vice ministers, director generals, economic organizations and representatives of the Iraqi private sector.
(Source: NIC)
By John Lee.
Iraq has reportedly signed a contract with two Chinese companies to build the Fao [Faw] oil refinery.
An Iraqi oil official told Reuters the 300,000-bpd facility will include a petrochemical plant.
It is to be built by the Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) and Norinco.
(Source: Reuters)
By John Lee.
Having sold its stake in the West Qurna 1 project to Japan’s Itochu, Shell is now said to be “fully committed” to the giant Basra Gas Company (BGC), which captures gas from Iraq’s southern oilfields.
Frits Klap, managing director of BGC, told Reuters that processing capacity has more than tripled to 938 million standard cubic feet (scf) per day since operations started in 2013, and further expansion is planned:
“We are going to go for something called BNGL, or Basra NGL (natural gas liquids) expansion, which really is going to take us from 1 bcf to 1.4 bcf through two trains, each of 200 million scf per day.”
Shell has a 44-percent stake in the $17-billion, 25-year project, with Iraq having 51 percent, and Japan’s Mitsubishi 5 percent.
(Source: Reuters)
By Alessandro Bacci.
Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
Alessandro Bacci is an independent energy consultant in relation to business strategy and corporate diplomacy (policy, government, and public affairs). Much of his activity is linked to the MENA region, an area where he lived for four years. Alessandro is now based in London, United Kingdom (www.alessandrobacci.com). A multilingual professional, Alessandro holds a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws from the University of Florence (Italy), a Master in Public Affairs from Sciences Po (France), and a Master in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore).
The following is a presentation on oilfield service contracts that I gave to the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (A.I.P.N.) in London on April 26, 2018 (click page numbers below):
By John Lee.
Basra Oil Company (BOC) has signed contracts with the Chinese company Anton Oilfield Services Group (Antonoil) and the US company KBR to operate and maintain the Majnoon oil field.
A statement from the Ministry of Oil put the value of the contracts at $118 million, adding that there would be “other secondary contracts” to follow.
BOC will take over operations at Majnoon from Shell by the end of June.
(Source: Ministry of Oil)
By John Lee.
Kuwait Energy has started producing natural gas from the Siba field, south of Basra, on Wednesday.
Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi [Allibi, Luiebi] (pictured) announced an inital production rate of 25 million cubic feet a day (mcf/d), increasing to 100 mcf/d by the end of the year.
Kuwait Energy was awarded a 20 year Gas Development and Production Service Contract (GDPSC) for the Siba field in June 2011, granting the company operatorship and 45 percent revenue interest, but it farmed out a 20 percent stake to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) in October 2016.
(Source: Ministry of Oil)
By John Lee.
Kuwait Energy has started producing natural gas from the Siba field, south of Basra, on Wednesday.
Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi [Allibi, Luiebi] (pictured) announced an inital production rate of 25 million cubic feet a day (mcf/d), increasing to 100 mcf/d by the end of the year.
Kuwait Energy was awarded a 20 year Gas Development and Production Service Contract (GDPSC) for the Siba field in June 2011, granting the company operatorship and 45 percent revenue interest, but it farmed out a 20 percent stake to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) in October 2016.
(Source: Ministry of Oil)
By John Lee.
Iraq’s Ministy of Oil has awarded all four development projects, and two of the seven exploration blocks, that it offered in its fifth auction of oil licences.
Only nine of the 26 companies originally pre-qualified took part in the auction, with majors such as Lukoil (Russia), ExxonMobil (US) and Total (France) not bidding.
Development blocks:
Exploration blocks:
Abdul Mahdi al-Ameedi, director general of the Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD), told Reuters that the failure of five blocks to attract bids was due to a combination of factors, including the fact that some of them cover former battlefields, some are hard to access, and the one offshore plot needs more data.
He said another round could be held for those five blocks.
More details here from Iraq Oil Report (subscription required)
(Sources: Iraq Oil Report, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP)
Gazprom Neft subsidiary Gazprom Neft Middle East B.V. has commissioned a second well — the Sarqala-2 — at its Sarqala field (within the Garmian block), located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
The new well is currently producing 11,000 barrels per day (bpd), with potential to increase this to 15,000. Total daily production at the field has now increased more than two-fold, exceeding 21,000 bpd.
Sergei Petrov, General Director, Gazprom Neft Middle East B.V. commented:
“The Sarqala-2 well is operating under high reservoir pressure and temperature. But by using exceptional technical solutions in well construction we have been able to make significant reductions in operating costs, as well as bringing the project in on time.”
Denis Sugaipov, Director of Major Projects Upstream at Gazprom Neft, added:
“Thanks to the commissioning of this new well we have been able to confirm our geological prognoses and obtain updated information on strata composition at the Sarqala field. The geology of the KRI is, generally, under-researched, so this new well is of major importance in terms of gaining knowledge and experience of the field.”
First oil from the Garmian block was obtained in 2011, with commercial crude shipments from the field commencing as early as 2015. As at 15.04.2018 total cumulative production at the field stood at seven million barrels of oil.
The first phase of expanding gathering and treatment capacity to 25,000 bpd is now complete, with work continuing on expanding infrastructure to accommodate 35,000 bpd. Drilling of the Sarqala-3 well is planned for Q3 2018, completing Phase I of field development.
(Source: Gazprom Neft)