Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Rehabilitation of major southern oil field will lead to further production
Oil
(United Press International) - Increased rehabilitation in a key Iraqi oil field has been completed, setting the stage for more production and drilling of new wells. "The rehabilitation of the Sayed Nour oil field, eastern Amara, will immensely contribute to sustaining the overall production capacity of al-Bazarkan oil complex, which already reaches 120,000 barrels per day," a spokesman told the Voices of Iraq news agency.
Iraq produces 2 million bpd from the world's third-largest reserves of oil, which could sustain higher production numbers. The goal of increased production has been hampered by a long list of repairs to a sector mismanaged by Saddam Hussein and held back by U.N. sanctions. It has also been hit hard in the past four plus years by operating in a war zone and with a government unable to spend the necessary capital.
Each of the five Sayed Nour field's wells has a production capacity of 15,000 bpd. There are also plans to drill new wells in the oil province of Missan, in Bazarkan, Hilfaya and Fakka, which will take two years to complete and boost capacity by 100,000 bpd, the source said.
Iraq produces 2 million bpd from the world's third-largest reserves of oil, which could sustain higher production numbers. The goal of increased production has been hampered by a long list of repairs to a sector mismanaged by Saddam Hussein and held back by U.N. sanctions. It has also been hit hard in the past four plus years by operating in a war zone and with a government unable to spend the necessary capital.
Each of the five Sayed Nour field's wells has a production capacity of 15,000 bpd. There are also plans to drill new wells in the oil province of Missan, in Bazarkan, Hilfaya and Fakka, which will take two years to complete and boost capacity by 100,000 bpd, the source said.
Labels: al-Bazarkan oil complex, Amarah, Bazarkan, Fakka, Hilfaya, Missan, Sayed Nour oil field
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
40 killed in raid on Sadr City
Security
(CNN) -- Forty people have been killed in a military raid and street fighting across Baghdad's Sadr City, the capital's volatile Shiite slum, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Wednesday.Iraqi and coalition troops overnight killed 32 militants in Sadr City -- most of them in an airstrike -- in an operation targeting a cell with alleged links to Iran, the U.S. military said. Twelve others were detained in the raid.
Separately, fighting broke out early Wednesday between U.S.-led coalition forces and Mehdi Army militiamen in Sadr City, leaving at least eight people dead and 10 wounded, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry. The U.S. military denied that civilians were among the casualties in the raid. "There were women and children in the area when we conducted the operation but none were killed in the airstrike," Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said, according to Reuters.
Some critics of al-Maliki, from the Shiite Dawa party, say he has been reluctant to take on other Shiite militants. Al-Maliki says the Iraqi military is targeting all insurgents, no matter what sect they hail from. There is a lot of support for Iran in Sadr City. And the targeted terrorist cell is suspected of bringing weapons and the bombs called an "explosively formed penetrators" from Iran to Iraq and of "bringing militants from Iraq into Iran for terrorist training," the U.S. military said.
The military said the raid was built on "a series of coordinated operations" that commenced with a raid in the southern Iraqi city of Amara in June. Amara is in Maysan province in the Shiite heartland and it borders Iran.
"Coalition forces continue to attack the supply chain of illicit materials being shipped from Iran," the military said.
The military was targeting an individual who "acts as a proxy between Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and an "the Iraqi EFP network." "Reports also indicate that he assists with the facilitation of weapons and EFP shipments into Iraq as well as the transfer of militant extremists to Iran for training."
Separately, fighting broke out early Wednesday between U.S.-led coalition forces and Mehdi Army militiamen in Sadr City, leaving at least eight people dead and 10 wounded, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry. The U.S. military denied that civilians were among the casualties in the raid. "There were women and children in the area when we conducted the operation but none were killed in the airstrike," Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said, according to Reuters.
Some critics of al-Maliki, from the Shiite Dawa party, say he has been reluctant to take on other Shiite militants. Al-Maliki says the Iraqi military is targeting all insurgents, no matter what sect they hail from. There is a lot of support for Iran in Sadr City. And the targeted terrorist cell is suspected of bringing weapons and the bombs called an "explosively formed penetrators" from Iran to Iraq and of "bringing militants from Iraq into Iran for terrorist training," the U.S. military said.
The military said the raid was built on "a series of coordinated operations" that commenced with a raid in the southern Iraqi city of Amara in June. Amara is in Maysan province in the Shiite heartland and it borders Iran.
"Coalition forces continue to attack the supply chain of illicit materials being shipped from Iran," the military said.
The military was targeting an individual who "acts as a proxy between Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and an "the Iraqi EFP network." "Reports also indicate that he assists with the facilitation of weapons and EFP shipments into Iraq as well as the transfer of militant extremists to Iran for training."
The street fighting between the Mehdi army and the troops lasted about three hours and was fought in various locations. It was not immediately known if those killed and wounded were civilians or members of the Mehdi Army -- the militia of populist anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who enjoys widespread support among Shiites in the eastern section of the capital.
The fighting came as Iraq's government moved up a vehicle ban for Baghdad from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday. The official said the ban, which was imposed 15 hours earlier than expected, surprised residents who were headed to work and told by Iraqi security forces to return home. The ban is part of an effort, the official said, to curtail potential bomb attacks targeting the thousands of Shiite pilgrims who are trekking to a major religious shrine in the northwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya for an annual religious commemoration Thursday.
The fighting came as Iraq's government moved up a vehicle ban for Baghdad from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday. The official said the ban, which was imposed 15 hours earlier than expected, surprised residents who were headed to work and told by Iraqi security forces to return home. The ban is part of an effort, the official said, to curtail potential bomb attacks targeting the thousands of Shiite pilgrims who are trekking to a major religious shrine in the northwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya for an annual religious commemoration Thursday.
Labels: Amarah, EFPs, Iran, Lt. Col Chris Garver, Mahdi Army, militants, Quds Force, raid, Sadr City
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Authorities in Amara sign contract for construction of 'tourist town'
(Azzaman) - The provincial authorities in Amara have signed a contract for the construction of a tourist town with the aim of turning this southern city reputed for its marshes and ancient Mesopotamian sites into a tourist attraction. The town to be built on the banks of the Tigris River will include a modern hotel, houses, a supermarket and playgrounds.
The authorities say the relative quiet in the Province of Missan of which Amara is the capital has encouraged them to go ahead with plans to build modern tourist infrastructure in the area. In the province are the remains of the Sumerian civilization which flourished in southern Iraq nearly 5,000 years ago. The Sumerians were the world’s most literate people in their time. To them are attributed the invention of writing and the wheel.
The authorities say the relative quiet in the Province of Missan of which Amara is the capital has encouraged them to go ahead with plans to build modern tourist infrastructure in the area. In the province are the remains of the Sumerian civilization which flourished in southern Iraq nearly 5,000 years ago. The Sumerians were the world’s most literate people in their time. To them are attributed the invention of writing and the wheel.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Changes to draft oil law discussed
Oil
(BI-ME) - Experts specialised in the oil sector and academics confirmed, at a symposium held in the city of Amarah in Southern Iraq, that the bill of oil and gas which is currently being discussed by the Parliament for approval “needs a review and adjustments” that are considered “essential”. They pointed out that there is a need “to ensure that the controversial draft law, will include compensations to the governorates producing oil and gas, with Missan Governate (bordering Iran) at the top, for the environmental damage caused by oil and gas exploration, and for agricultural land use in oil production”.
The symposium came out with other recommendations demanding not to work by the sharing-production contracts and stick to the risk and service contracts only on condition that any contract cannot be carried out only after gaining the consent of the oil and gas Federal Council. The seminar also proposed adding supplement 3 to supplement 2, and make it from the jurisdictions of the National Oil Company exclusively. Also, the contracts with oil companies must ensure the implementation of oil investment projects and give priority to extraction and production from the border fields, especially the ones common with the neighboring countries, giving priority to contracts that ensure marketing. Oil expert, Jassim Raheem Al-Ithari, said that “the law should be presented for broad discussion before it is approved”, noting that “articles 111 and 112 of the Constitution did not refer to the other national wealth other than oil and gas. Also the constitutional articles especially article 112, did not refer to the exploited fields that require resolving the controversy about them”.
The symposium recommended the adoption of the Amman symposium recommendations held recently on the new law. The legal expert in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Jabbar Alsaidi, pointed out to “the importance of enhancing an Iraqi oil law, re-establishing the National Oil Company and to amend articles 111 and 112 of the Constitution, to pave the way for some of the parties to sign contracts without referring to Baghdad.”
He explained that the Cabinet “authorised” some bodies described by “regional” to negotiate and sign contracts just like the Ministry of Oil and the National Oil Company. The symposium stressed “the need for the parliament to ratify all contracts and the nomination of a supreme body to resolve the arising disputes“, suggesting “their settlement through the Federal Court”.
The symposium came out with other recommendations demanding not to work by the sharing-production contracts and stick to the risk and service contracts only on condition that any contract cannot be carried out only after gaining the consent of the oil and gas Federal Council. The seminar also proposed adding supplement 3 to supplement 2, and make it from the jurisdictions of the National Oil Company exclusively. Also, the contracts with oil companies must ensure the implementation of oil investment projects and give priority to extraction and production from the border fields, especially the ones common with the neighboring countries, giving priority to contracts that ensure marketing. Oil expert, Jassim Raheem Al-Ithari, said that “the law should be presented for broad discussion before it is approved”, noting that “articles 111 and 112 of the Constitution did not refer to the other national wealth other than oil and gas. Also the constitutional articles especially article 112, did not refer to the exploited fields that require resolving the controversy about them”.
The symposium recommended the adoption of the Amman symposium recommendations held recently on the new law. The legal expert in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Jabbar Alsaidi, pointed out to “the importance of enhancing an Iraqi oil law, re-establishing the National Oil Company and to amend articles 111 and 112 of the Constitution, to pave the way for some of the parties to sign contracts without referring to Baghdad.”
He explained that the Cabinet “authorised” some bodies described by “regional” to negotiate and sign contracts just like the Ministry of Oil and the National Oil Company. The symposium stressed “the need for the parliament to ratify all contracts and the nomination of a supreme body to resolve the arising disputes“, suggesting “their settlement through the Federal Court”.
Labels: Amarah, draft oil law, Iraq National Oil Co., Jabbar Alsaidi, Jassim Raheem Al-Ithari, Ministry of Oil, Missan
