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Friday, 21 November, 2008, 15:40 GMT | more >>

Iraq calls in the drillers



By Upstream staff 

Iraq has asked 15 Arab, Asian and American companies to tender for a drilling job in the country's south, an Oil Ministry official said today.

Asim Jihad told Reuters that the tender, issued at the end of March, will close at the end of May. The state-run South Oil Company will review the offers, he said.

"We want to drill 50 wells in Maysan (province) and 50 in Basra. It will take from one year to three years," he said.

"These new wells will give us between 50,000 to 60,000 barrels per day."

Iraq has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and needs billions of dollars to revive its oil sector which is crucial for rebuilding its shattered economy.

Iraq's oil sector has been hampered by decades of sanctions under Saddam Hussein and nearly four years of violence since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Most of Iraq's proven oil reserves are in the Shi'ite south or the Kurdish north. In February, Iraq's Cabinet endorsed a draft oil law to regulate how wealth from the country's vast oil reserves will be shared by its ethnic and sectarian groups.

Many Major upstream players have been manoeuvring for years to win a stake in Iraq's prized oilfields, such as Bin Umar, Majnoon, Nassiriyah, West Qurna and Ratawi, all of which lie in the south of the country.

Tuesday, 03 April, 2007, 10:26 GMT  | last updated: Tuesday, 03 April, 2007, 12:22 GMT

All fired up: output from Iraq's producing fields has been crippled by sabotage, but plans are afoot to sink at least 100 new wells in the country's south
 

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