Category: Oil News

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Iraq to Expand Haditha Refinery

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Minister of Oil, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismael, has laid the foundation stone for a new 20,000-barrel-per-day production unit at Haditha Refinery, in Anbar province.

The new unit will increase production at the plant to 36,000 barrels per day.

The General Director of the North Refineries Company (NRC), Qassem Abdel Rahman, said the company will invite international companies to add additional capacity of 35,000 bpd.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Cabinet commits resources to Dhi Qar province

The Iraqi Cabinet held an extraordinary meeting in the city Nasiriyah in Dhi Qar province on Monday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

At the start of the meeting, the Prime Minister said that the people of Dhi Qar had sacrificed much for Iraq, but they have suffered from the consequences of past marginalisation. He affirmed that this government is determined to address the challenges facing the province.

Following discussions, the Cabinet approved several measures to improve services and boost investment in Dhi Qar, including:

  • Establish Dhi Qar Reconstruction Council to oversee the implementation of key projects in the province
  • Establish a working group to review all delayed and incomplete projects in Dhi Qar to ensure that work on these projects is resumed, giving a priority to projects that have direct impact on the lives of citizens. The working group will be chaired by the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, with the membership of the Governor of Dhi Qar, the Deputy Minister of Planning, the Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Municipalities, and representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Electricity, Oil and Education
  • Grant the Governor of Dhi Qar the necessary powers to oversee the construction of new roads, rehabilitation of water purification plants, and the rehabilitation and maintenance of hospitals and health centres
  • Direct the Ministry of Oil to allocate 500 million dinars annually to the Heart Centre in Dhi Qar and to the local Health Department
  • Direct the Ministry of Communications to allocate 10 billion dinars to Dhi Qar
  • Direct the Ministry of Health to provide hospitals in the province with medical equipment and supplies
  • Direct the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research to follow up on the progress of Al-Shatra University Project which was established in 2013
  • Direct the Agricultural Bank, the Housing Fund and the Industrial Bank to simplify the procedures for granting loans to the people of Dhi Qar because of the exceptional circumstances facing the province
  • Expedite the completion of Dhi Qar Industrial City and Dhi Qar Refinery
  • Expedite the construction of school buildings and hospitals with a high completion rate

The Cabinet also approved several technical and administrative measures related to Dhi Qar aimed at delivering tangible and rapid improvement across a number of key public services.

(Source: Govt of Iraq)

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Caterpillar to take over Weir Oil and Gas

By John Lee.

Scottish engineering company Weir Group has announced the sale of its Oil & Gas division to US-based Caterpillar Inc.

The all-cash sale gives its Texas-based division an enterprise value of US$405m (£314m), subject to customary working capital and debt-like adjustments at closing.

The move is part of Weir’s strategy to become a “premium mining technology pure play“. 

Weir’s Iraqi operations are managed from North Rumaila, where it provides mechanical and rotating equipment repairs and upgrades, oilfield and drilling equipment repair and certification, asset management and field services.

(Source: Weir)

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JGC signs Contract for Basra Refinery Upgrade

By John Lee.

Yesterday (Thursday), the South Refineries Company (SRC) and Iraq’s Ministry of Oil (MOO) signed the contract with Japan’s JGC Corporation to start construction of a new Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Complex at Basrah Refinery.

The project is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)‘s ODA (Official Development Assistance) loan project.

The contract ceremony was successfully held at the Governmental Palace with the presence of H.E. Mr. Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismael, Minister of Oil, H.E. Dr. Eng. Khaled Battal Najim Abdullah Al-Jujifi, Minister of Planning, Mr. Husam Hussein Weli, Director General, SRC, Mr. Shu Nakagawa, Charge d’Affaires ad interim, Embassy of Japan in Iraq, Mr. Yutaka Yamazaki, President of JGC Corporation, and Mr. Kei Toyama, Chief Representative of JICA Iraq Office.  At the sideline of the ceremony, H.E. Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi hosted the meeting with the participants.

For this project named “Basrah Refinery Upgrading Project (I)(II)“, JICA has so far concluded three loan agreements for:

  1. engineering services loan in the amount of JPY 2,079 million [$20 million];
  2. first tranche loan in the amount of JPY 42,435 million [$403 million]; and,
  3. second tranche loan of JPY 110,000 million [$1.04 billion].

This project is the largest Japanese ODA loan project in Iraq. Under the assistance of JICA’s concessional loans (low interest rate at 0.20% and the repayment period of 40 years including 10-year grace period). It is expected to be completed in 2025.

According to a statement from JICA, the project to construct Iraq’s first-ever FCC Complex will unleash the potential of Iraq’s refining sector to produce the larger volume of the high-value outputs, promote the transfer of refining technologies from Japan and help save valuable foreign currencies to import huge amount of fuels.

It says the new plant will also reduce sulfur content in the oil products in accordance with the international environmental standards, adding:

“The project is expected to pave the way for energizing private sector involvement in the downstream of Iraq’s energy industry and provide economic and employment opportunities for the people of Iraq, especially in Basrah.

“JICA looks forward to the collaborative efforts made by Iraqi government and the contractor to overcome every challenge to be encountered during project implementation, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  JICA reaffirms its commitment to making every possible means to support in delivering the project benefits and realizing its effectiveness.“

(Source: JICA)

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Iraq announces Oil Export Data for Sept

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has announced initial oil exports for September of 78,388,619 barrels, giving an average for the month of 2.613 million barrels per day (bpd), slightly up from the 2.597 million bpd exported in August.

These exports from the oilfields in central and southern Iraq amounted to 75,000,000 barrels, while exports from Kirkuk amounted to 3,133,834 barrels. Exports to Jordan were 254,785 barrels.

Revenues for the month were $3.167 billion at an average price of $40.407 per barrel.

August’s export figures can be found here.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Finalised Iraqi Oil Export Figures for August

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has announced finalised oil exports for August of 80,494,536 barrels, giving an average for the month of 2.597 million barrels per day (bpd), down from the 2.763 million bpd exported in July.

These exports from the oilfields in central and southern Iraq amounted to 77,505,136 barrels, while exports from Kirkuk amounted to 2,989,400 barrels.

Revenues for the month were $3.492 billion at an average price of $43.384 per barrel.

July’s export figures can be found here.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Genel Energy issues New $300m Bond

By John Lee.

Genel Energy has successfully completed the issuance of a new $300 million senior unsecured bond with maturity in October 2025.

The new bond will have a fixed coupon of 9.25% per annum. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and settlement is expected to occur on or about 14 October 2020.

In connection with the issue, the Company has agreed to repurchase $223 million of its existing $300 million senior unsecured bond issue with ISIN NO 001071088.2 and maturity date in December 2022 (‘GENEL01 PRO’).

Genel has the option to call the outstanding bond amount in December 2020 at a price equal to 105% of the nominal amount.

Pareto Securities acted as bookrunner and manager for the bond issue.

(Source: Genel Energy)

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Petrel Resources updates on Iraq Interests

By John Lee.

In its financial results for the six months ended 30th June 2020, Petrel Resources made the following statement on its interests in Iraq:

“Petrel is active once more in Iraq after a hiatus since 2010 due to political and financial instability. We negotiated a large exploration block, Block 6, in the Western Desert in 2005. Nothing has happened there in the recent past. In discussions in early 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic, with Ministry officials we renewed our Block 6 interest and re-presented the technical slides done by the Company on the Merjan-Kefl-West Kifl oil discoveries which remain undeveloped. We did extensive work under a Technical Co-operation Agreement on possible ways to develop these discoveries.

“With appropriate terms and pipeline access, the Merjan oil-field seems poised for early development: it was discovered, as an oil reservoir, by Mobil in 1982, but work did not proceed, mainly for political reasons.  Petrel’s work on Merjan did not suggest that the area was gas-prone. The discovery well – Me-1- was located using 2D seismic on a Jurassic reef. No reef or oil was found in the Jurassic, but the well discovered oil in the Upper Cretaceous Hartha Formation.  Recent analysis of 3D data focusses on the Jurassic seismic feature, and does not discuss the nature of any hydrocarbons in the well or the area. The Hartha reservoir in the well tested oil and water, without a significant flow of gas.

“Given the scope to reduce emissions through gas development, we should also bear Iraq’s gas potential in mind:  a staggering 16 billion cm (0.6 tcf) of gas are flared yearly (including valuable liquids), which is about half Iraq’s gas output.  We proposed gas and condensate recovery on Subba & Luhais, at various times, from 2004 through 2010, but the necessary legal framework was not then in place.  With appropriate terms and infrastructure, gas economics are also attractive.

“As lowest cost oil producer Iraq is well poised to benefit from the development of the oil market. Their output can easily double in size.“

(Source: Petrel Resources)

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