Actualitati economice irakiene
Iraq Seeks New Supplies For Growing Power Needs
December 29th, 2011 |
The Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization has launched a tender to buy 3,400 tons of gasoil per day for 12 months to power electricity generators.
In July 2011, Iraq signed a one-year deal with Iran to receive approximately 1,300 tons per day of gasoil to help power the growing needs of a country already short on fuel.
Over the past eight years, the finance ministry has tried to alleviate the problem with $27bn of disbursements. Power supply has roughly doubled since 2006 from 4,000 MW to between 7,000 MW and 8,000 MW, but demand has also grown due to Iraq’s strengthening prospects, from around 8,000 MW to 14,000 MW.
When there are no power failures, Iraqis gets electricity for roughly two-thirds of the day, on average. Mortality in Iraq is still high during the hot summers due to power shortages and failures.
(Sources: Reuters; AKNews)
Iraq to build four new oil refineries
December 15th, 2011 |
Iraqi officials praised the Ministry of Oil’s newly signed contracts for the construction of four new refineries.
The ministry signed a contract with the International United Faust Waller company on Tuesday (November 8th) to build four refineries in the cities of Nasiriyah (output capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd)), Amara (150,000 bpd), Kirkuk (150,000 bpd) and Karbala (140,000 bpd).
“These refineries will definitely meet the daily consumption of oil products in the country and after they start operating will nullify the need for imports from neighbouring countries,” said Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad.
According to the contracts, the company should present the final designs for the four refineries by the first of January 2012 at the latest so work on building the foundations can begin.
“The new refineries will be constructed according to the latest international specifications and will reinforce the production capacity of Iraq of various oil products, in addition to providing employment for Iraqi capacities and manpower.”
Hameed Allawi al-Tarf, ministry adviser for production affairs, told Mawtani that work on the new refineries will go on for two and a half years. The company will be responsible for bringing in engineers and experts, while the daily labour will be performed by Iraqis.
Tarf said he expects each refinery will employ more than 2,500 permanent workers, and could possible increase the stated production capacity.
“The expected declared production of the refineries will be their normal capacity, not the maximum output, and surely this number can be increased when there is a need for it.”
Iraq’s oil policy
Hussein al-Shaherstani, deputy prime minister for energy affairs, said, “The Iraqi government’s oil policy is moving on with solid steps and progressing fast — better than the other countries of the region.”
“Iraq will very soon become an oil producing and exporting country that all countries of the world will look up to it. Iraq’s economic power will be the best weapon with which to confront the coming challenges,” he told Mawtani.
Al-Shaherstani said Iraq plans to set up refineries in all Iraqi provinces to meet the provinces’ needs for kerosene, gasoline, gasoil, household cooking gas, and auto engine oil.
He also asserted that Iraq will reach its highest oil production level of 12 million bpd by 2016.
Khalid Abdullah, a member of the Iraqi parliament oil and gas committee, said, “The four new refineries will allow Iraq to overcome its daily problems of poor supplies, and the low quality of the imported fuels, as well as the delays encountered in deliveries, in addition to absorbing a large number of experts and manpower.”
“This is a great project. I might even say that the first seeds of security improvements have sprouted as the international companies started to come to Iraq investing billions of dollars in total trust and security.”
Shell Signs $17bn Iraqi Gas Deal
December 15th, 2011 |
Shell, Mitsubishi and the Iraqi government have finally signed the $17.2 billion deal on Sunday to capture flared gas at Iraq’s southern oilfields.
The 25-year project is intended to boost production of badly needed electricity and reduce the environmental damage caused by flaring, as well as opening up the possibility of gas exports.
It will harness more than 700 million cubic feet per day of gas from the oilfields of Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna, increasing eventually to 2 billion cubic feet per day.
The goal of 2 billion cubic feet per day capacity is linked to peak production at the southern fields, which is expected by 2017, Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed al-Shamma told Reuters.
“This day represents a historic change in the Iraqi oil industry … the best utilisation of (associated) gas to meet the increasing needs for gas in Iraq,” Luaibi said at a signing ceremony attended by Shell Chief Executive Peter Voser.
The Shell deal will involve the creation of the Basra Gas Company joint venture, in which the government will hold 51 percent, Shell 44 percent and Mitsubishi 5 percent.
Existing facilities are currently handling 370 million cubic feet of gas per day from seven southern fields.
The project may include the construction of an LNG export facility with a maximum capacity of 600 million cubic feet per day. Exports are possible once Iraq’s domestic needs are met.
Officials say the project requires investment of $17.2 billion — $12.8 billion to rehabilitate existing facilities and build new ones, and $4.4 billion for the LNG export unit.
The Shell-Mitsubishi partnership expects an internal rate of return on the project of 15 percent on an initial investment of $6.98 billion, while SGC plans to put in $3.7 billion of public funds initially and fund the rest through gas sales.
(Sources: Reuters, Wall Street Journal)
Alstom Signs €400m Power Contract in Iraq Posted on 11 December 2011
December 15th, 2011 |
Patrick Kron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alstom, and the Iraqi Vice Minister of Electricity, His Excellency Salam Kazzaz, signed on 11 December, in the presence of His Excellency Karim Aftan El Jumaily, Minister of Electricity, a contract worth approximately €400 million to build the 728 MW Al Mansuriya gas-fired power plant in the Diyala Governorate, northeast of Baghdad. The plant will consist of four units, based on Alstom’s GT13E2 gas turbine, and will be constructed under a turnkey contract, covering delivery of equipment and civil works. The plant will add generation capacity to Iraq’s electricity network by providing enough electricity to the entire Diyala Governorate and a part of Baghdad, located 80 km away from the plant. The first unit of the plant is scheduled to be operational in early 2013. Equipment will be manufactured in Alstom’s factories in France, Switzerland and Germany. With more than 10 million operating hours accumulated worldwide, Alstom’s GT13E2 gas turbine has demonstrated superior operational performance and continues to provide reliable power to millions of consumers worldwide. Commenting on the win, Mark Coxon, Senior Vice President of Alstom’s Gas business said: “Alstom is proud to be participating in the reconstruction of Iraq’s energy infrastructure. I am positive that our superior gas turbine technology, offering outstanding availability and reliability, will support the country in building up secure electricity supplies for the future.“ In July 2010, Patrick Kron, Chairman and CEO of Alstom, and the Ministry of Electricity, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development and modernisation of Iraq’s electricity infrastructure. Under this MoU, Alstom is currently rehabilitating unit 1 of the Najaf gas-fired power station, 160 km south of Baghdad. The unit was out of operation for five years; the rehabilitation will allow the first turbine, recontribute again an output of 60 MW to the Iraqi electricity network.
Gulf Keystone Updates on Operations and Sales
December 15th, 2011 |
Gulf Keystone (GKP) today provided an update on its ongoing exploration and appraisal programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which includes the Shaikan block, a major discovery with independently audited gross oil-in-place volumes of between 8 billion barrels to 13.4 billion barrels calculated on the P90 to P10 basis with a mean value of 10.5 billion barrels.
Shaikan-4 Appraisal Well
Gulf Keystone has completed drilling of the Shaikan-4 appraisal well, 6 km to the west of the Shaikan-1 discovery well, to a total depth (TD) of 3,387 metres in the middle Triassic with 2,375 metres of total gross pay interval. The well has been drilled through the Jurassic (Sargelu, Alan, Mus and Butmah formations) and the upper and middle Triassic (Baluti, Kurre Chine A and Kurre Chine B formations) with an indication of potential new Jurassic reservoirs in Sargelu sands and Barsarin carbonates.
The Company is now embarking on a well testing programme for Shaikan-4 which will target several formations in the Jurassic and Triassic, including the Chia Gara/Barsarin, Sargelu, Butmah, Kurre Chine-A, Kurre-Chine-B and Kurre Chine-C formations.
Preliminary results from Shaikan-4 formed part of the new data used by Dynamic Global Advisors (DGA), independent Houston-based exploration consultants, to calculate the most recent significant upgrade of the gross oil-in-place volumes for the Shaikan discovery announced in November 2011.
Shaikan-5 Appraisal Well
The Shaikan-5 appraisal well, 6 km to the north-east of the Shaikan-2 appraisal well, has drilled to a measured depth of 856 metres and 20″ casing is currently being set. The well will then continue drilling to the estimated TD of 3,500 metres subject to technical conditions.
Shaikan-6 Appraisal Well
The move of the WDI 842 rig to the location of the Shaikan-6 appraisal well is ongoing. The well, which will be drilled 9 km to the east of the Shaikan-2 appraisal well, is due to spud in December 2011. Estimated TD for Shaikan-6 is 3,800 metres subject to technical conditions.
Shaikan oil sales
Gulf Keystone has recommenced sales of the Shaikan crude to the domestic market of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq at a rate of about 1,500-2,000 barrels of oil per day. This initial rate for the crude produced at the Shaikan-1 & 3 Extended Well Test (EWT) facilities has been set to meet current domestic oil sales specifications. Volumes of oil production and sales, both into the domestic and export markets, are due to increase significantly after the ongoing upgrade of the Shaikan-1 & 3 EWT facilities has been completed.
Gulf Keystone is the Operator of the Shaikan block with a working interest of 75 per cent and is partnered with Kalegran Ltd. (a 100 per cent subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc.) and Texas Keystone Inc., which have working interests of 20 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
Ber Bahr-1 Exploration Well
The first exploration well on the Ber Bahr block has drilled to a measured depth of 1,765 metres at the top of the Triassic with hydrocarbons indications observed in the well. Wireline logging is underway which will be followed by running of 9 5/8″ casing. The well will then continue drilling to the estimated TD of 2,100 metres.
Gulf Keystone has a 40 percent working interest in the Ber Bahr block operated by Genel Energy, which holds a 40 percent working interest in the block. The Kurdistan Regional Government has a 20 percent carried interest in the Ber Bahr Production Sharing Contract. The Operator’s resource estimate for the Ber Bahr block is 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent-initially-in-place.
The testing programme for Bekhme-1, the second exploration well on the Akri-Bijeel block drilled 20 km to the north-east from the Bijell‑1 discovery well, is ongoing. After the testing programme has been completed in December, the Operator will issue an appropriate announcement.
Gulf Keystone has a 20 percent working interest in the Akri-Bijeel block operated by Kalegran Ltd., 100% subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc., which holds 80 percent working interest in the block. Operator’s P50 resource estimate for the Akri-Bijeel block is 2.4 billion barrels of oil-in-place.
John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone’s Chief Operating Officer commented:
“Following our recently completed tests at the Shaikan-2 appraisal well, we plan to replicate this successful programme at Shaikan-4. Our preliminary results for this well are very promising and we look forward to the Shaikan-4 well testing programme which is yet another step in the process of unlocking the full potential of the giant Shaikan discovery in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In this regard, the recommencement of our domestic oil sales is particularly significant as we prepare to upgrade the existing test production facilities and ramp up both domestic sales and oil exports of the Shaikan crude in the first half of 2012.“
ProSep Awarded $6.5m Contracts in Iraq
December 15th, 2011 |
ProSep Inc. (TSX: PRP) has announced that it was awarded three contracts with a new customer operating in Iraq, for the design and supply of a produced water package and water deaeration and fuel gas treatment systems.
Together, these contracts represent a value of $6.5 million. The equipment provided will be installed at the same early production facility located onshore.
“These contracts awarded by a new customer operating in Iraq bring our year-to-date total orders signed to $46 million, almost twice last year’s orders,” said Jacques L. Drouin, President and CEO.
“By investing in expanding our business development and process engineering teams, we’ve broadened our market reach and depth of offering, and expect to continue capturing market share.”
The produced water treatment package and water deaeration and fuel gas treatment systems will be designed as skid-mounted pre-assembled units for ease of field installation. Delivery of these systems is expected to occur by the third quarter of 2012.
Investment a “success story” in Iraqi Kurdistan
December 14th, 2011 |
| ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – While most Iraqis struggle under the detritus of a seven-year war, the people of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan can frolic in a public pool,ride an elevated cable car over freshly planted parkland or escape stifling heat in a new ice skating hall.
The new luxuries of Iraq’s northern Kurdish region seem a world apart from the dust and grit of Baghdad, where suicide bombers are an everyday fear, dirt-gray blast walls dominate a war-weary cityscape, hotels are shuttered, leisure confined to home and the city’s own telepherique lies in ruin. The relative security of semi-autonomous Kurdistan, largely unaffected by war, has made it a safe haven in an oil-abundant country that presents an enticing but uncertain profile to a business looking to invest. “The telepherique idea I brought from China. It cost me $2.5 million (£1.58 million) to build and it was constructed by a Chinese company,” said Mamdouh Mahmoud, the businessman behind the cable car and skating rink in central Arbil. “I’m paying $2,500 per year as rental fees for the land I leased from the government to build the skating hall and telepherique station, so who could resist the temptation to invest here?” he said. TOO DANGEROUS? Stunted by a generation of war, sanctions and neglect, Iraq is one of the world’s most compelling emerging markets. It sits atop proven oil reserves of 115 billion barrels, the world’s third largest, and its estimated 30 million people are starving for housing, electricity and consumer goods. But the war that started with a U.S. invasion to oust Saddam Hussein is not over, and Iraq remains a place entered at risk. Islamist militants are still active. Bombings and other attacks kill hundreds each month. A new survey of business executives by the Economist Intelligence Unit found 64 percent believe it is still too dangerous to do business in Iraq, even though more than half said their view had become more positive in the last two years. Kurdistan won the highest marks within Iraq — 46 percent had highly or somewhat favourable views of the region with only 20 percent unfavourable. In Arbil, the only blast walls in evidence are the brightly painted ones surrounding the parliament. The capital of Iraqi Kurdistan has clubs, restaurants and a feeling of safety that allows residents to stay out after dark. Investors are eying the region as an end in itself or an entry point for the rest of Iraq, when the rest of Iraq is safe. The sounds of construction are everywhere in Arbil as new houses and apartment blocks sprout. Investors have committed $14 billion since mid-2006, according to government officials. “This has been a major success story for Kurdistan. We’re proud of that,” Prime Minister Barham Salih told Reuters in an interview in July. Business leaders point to a key 2006 investment law that helped transform Kurdistan from a centrally planned economy under Saddam to a more trade-oriented, investor-friendly region. It offers a 10-year tax exemption and free land to business owners, with the right to transfer profits outside the region. TURKISH INVASION The Kurds are reaching out to European and American investors but at present 55 percent of the foreign companies investing there — 640 of 1,170 — are from neighbouring Turkey. By comparison, only 31 are German and two are French. “Kurdistan is a lot more viable for the small and medium-sized companies that want to operate in Iraq but cannot afford to spend the thousands of dollars in security costs needed to operate successfully elsewhere in the country,” said Ali Al-Saffar of the Economist Intelligence Unit. Security concerns may not stop a company from investing in Iraq, but the cost of protecting facilities and people from a stubborn insurgency must be factored into business plans. Electricity transmission towers and Iraq’s oil pipeline to Turkey have been frequent targets. “There are financial allocations for the security issues. This is an additional cost,” said Khalid Jameel, proposals manager for Uruk, a Dubai-based company that won an $84 million contract to build a power plant in Taji, 20 km north of Baghdad. The company has 60 security guards stationed at the site for 100 engineers and technicians. It put up a barbed wire fence around the property until a permanent wall is built. TANGLED BUREAUCRACY, CORRUPTION Iraq has massive infrastructure plans on the drawing board. Global oil majors have committed to multibillion-dollar contracts to develop oilfields and the government, funded 95 percent by oil revenue, allocated $21 billion, a quarter of its budget, to housing, rail and other projects this year alone. Corruption and bureaucratic snarls remain major impediments. A World Bank report ranks Iraq 153 of 183 nations for ease of doing business. Transparency International’s corruption index has it 176th of 180 nations. Infrastructure battered by 30 years of nearly constant war also holds back development. Baghdad residents say they get only a few hours a day from the national power grid. Kurdistan, little touched by the current conflict, does better, supplying more than 18 hours a day. “Only four or five years ago, we had only one hour of electricity per day,” Trade and Industry Minister Sinan Chalabi said. “I think within two or three years’ time we shall overcome all our shortage and we will have extra.” Iraqi Kurdistan also has big infrastructure projects in the works, some focussed on neighbouring Turkey to boost annual trade from the current $5-6 billion. Chalabi points to a single bridge between the countries that handles 1,500 trucks a day. “We have made an agreement to build two extra bridges and to expand the width so we can stand the extra (traffic),” he said. But disputes between Arbil and Baghdad are hindering growth on both sides. The federal government says contracts the Kurdistan Regional Government signed with oil firms to develop its fields are illegal. The spat shut down exports from Kurdistan last year and the two capitals have been unable to resolve their differences. “We are losing billions of dollars a year from not exporting oil from Kurdistan,” Salih, the prime minister, fumes. SAFETY FIRST Kurdish authorities boast on their website that not a single coalition soldier was killed, nor a single foreigner kidnapped, in Iraqi Kurdistan during the war. That kind of security has Kurds revelling in new amenities. Khalid Nawzad, a 22-year-old worker at Arbil’s bowling alley, says residents stand in line for a chance to play. “I wish all other parts of Iraq could enjoy some leisure, but I know it’s nearly impossible under the current bad security,” he said. “I wish one day violence will vanish and life will become normal.” |
Natural gas: North looks to tap into long-term export potential of vast reserves
December 11th, 2011 |
Let there be light: in contrast to southern Iraq, electricity supplies in Erbil and the surrounding area are almost continuous.
At night, a reddish glare surrounds Basra in hydrocarbon-rich southern Iraq. Yet the city has electricity for just four hours a day; none at the night. The glare is the effect of “flaring”, or burning off, vast quantities of natural gas from the huge Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna oil and natural gasfields.
Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq, is alight too, though not from the glare of natural gas burning, but because it has electricity 22 hours a day. This is no small matter but is a sign of the different fortunes of the natural gas industries in northern and southern Iraq, with significant implications for the Kurdistan region.
The US Geological Survey estimates Iraqi Kurdistan has 60,000bn cubic feet, more than the estimate for gas reserves in Libya.
While crude oil attracts most attention from industry executives, diplomats are particularly interested in natural gas, because Turkey is short of supplies and Ankara has signalled it is ready to import and serve as a corridor for exports.
Selahattin Cimen, deputy undersecretary at Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, says Kurdistan could supply the country with gas for power generation. “Turkey is the natural direction for exports of hydrocarbons from the region [of Iraqi Kurdistan] to the world’s market,” he says.
Turkey is particularly keen to import natural gas for power generation, and perhaps build a gas pipeline from the fields near Sulaimaniya, the second-largest city in Kurdistan, to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Kurdish and Turkish officials talk about building an export facility to supercool natural gas so it can be transported by ship, although industry executives say such a facility is years, if not decades, away.
Aydin Selcen, Turkish general consul in Erbil, says his country depends on Russian natural gas for 70 per cent of its imports. “The most commercial alternative seems to be the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). We have a long shared border.”
Turkey is even talking about connecting an export pipeline from Kurdistan to the projected Nabucco pipeline, which would link the gas-rich Caucasus and Central Asia to energy-hungry European nations.
A second option suggested by officials in Baghdad, and with less support in Erbil, is the so-called Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP) project.
According to the US Department of Energy, the AGP would deliver gas to Syria and then to Lebanon and the Turkish border. But the recent violence in Syria means the project faces an uncertain future.
The companies started production in October 2008, with the gas supplying local power stations that produced about 1,620 megawatts of electricity – about the same as a nuclear power plant.
“This has ensured an almost continuous power supply for 4m people in the Kurdistan region, in contrast to the electricity crisis in other parts of Iraq, and has provided savings of over $2bn annually in fuel costs for the government,” says Majid Jafar, chief executive of Crescent Petroleum.
But analysts believe the export market will be the most important over the medium term. “In the absence of local demand, gas exports remain the only option of monetising these large discoveries [of natural gas],” Citigroup wrote on a recent report about the oil and gas sector in Kurdistan.
By Javier Blas, Financial Times
Dana Gas Commissions Northern Iraq LPG Plant
December 11th, 2011 |
In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, construction and commissioning of the LPG plant and supporting facilities are now complete, and gas is being delivered to the Erbil and Sulaymania power stations at peak rates in excess of 300 million standard cubic feet per day with average production of 296 million standard cubic feet per day of gas, 13,900 barrels per day of condensate, and 240 tons per day of LPG. This equates to 26,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day net to Dana Gas, which owns a 40% interest in the license.
Irakienii, tot mai interesati de afaceri cu Romania
December 9th, 2011 |
Secretarul de stat in Ministerul Economiei, Comertului si Mediului de Afaceri (MECMA), Constantin Claudiu Stafie, a primit, in 30 iunie, o delegatie irakiana a Guvernoratului Wasit, in cadrul discutiilor fiind evidentiata dorinta ambelor parti de extindere a relatiilor economice bilaterale.
Delegatia irakiana a venit in Romania pentru discutii cu firme de stat si private, in vederea identificarii de oportunitati si proiecte comune de cooperare in domeniul economic, informeaza NewsIn.
Potrivit unui comunicat transmis de MECMA, in cadrul discutiilor a fost evidentiata dorinta ambelor parti de extindere a relatiilor economice si comerciale bilaterale, pe baza traditiei legaturilor dintre cele doua tari.
Articol din Actualitati economice irakiene, Promovarea firmelor romanesti in alte tari | 
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