Monday, October 08, 2007
New tender for Kirkuk crude to be announced
Oil
(Reuters) - Iraq has sold nearly 5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude to buyers in Europe and the United States and plans to issue a new sales tender in the coming days, an Iraqi oil ministry source said on Monday. Shell, BP, Cepsa, Tupras, Erg, and Exxon Mobil had been awarded a total of 5 million barrels, he said. A new tender for 5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude -- the fourth such sale in six weeks -- will be announced in the next few days, the source said.
Through the three previous sales, Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation has sold about 12.5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude that is pumped from its northern oilfields and piped to Turkey for export. Repeated sabotage attacks along Iraq's northern pipeline to the Turkish terminal of Ceyhan have kept the export route mostly idle since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
But intermittent flows through the line over the past month have allowed Baghdad once again to ship crude to world markets. "We're moving volume to Ceyhan at a steadier rate," said the source. "So we're studying the possibility of term contracts." The Iraq-Turkey pipeline is Iraq's secondary export route. It relies on its main terminal in the south at Basra for exports of about 1.5 million barrels per day.
Through the three previous sales, Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation has sold about 12.5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude that is pumped from its northern oilfields and piped to Turkey for export. Repeated sabotage attacks along Iraq's northern pipeline to the Turkish terminal of Ceyhan have kept the export route mostly idle since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
But intermittent flows through the line over the past month have allowed Baghdad once again to ship crude to world markets. "We're moving volume to Ceyhan at a steadier rate," said the source. "So we're studying the possibility of term contracts." The Iraq-Turkey pipeline is Iraq's secondary export route. It relies on its main terminal in the south at Basra for exports of about 1.5 million barrels per day.
Labels: BP, Cepsa, Ceyhan, Erg, Exxon Mobil, Kirkuk crude, Shell, SOMO, State Oil Marketing Organisation, Tupras
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Iraq resumes pumping of oil from Kirkuk to Ceyhan
Region
(AP) -- Iraq's oil minister said Tuesday that crude oil began to flow from his country's northern oil-rich Kirkuk to a Turkish export terminal last week - for the first time since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. "We're pumping between 300,000 to 400,000 barrels a day of Kirkuk crude to the Turkish export terminal of Ceyhan," Hussain al-Shahristani told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview from Baghdad.
The pipeline - Iraq's main export route from Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan - has been mostly closed because of constant sabotage since the U.S.-led war. Two weeks ago, Iraq agreed with Syria to repair and subsequently reopen another key pipeline, a 550-mile-long link connecting Kirkuk and the Syrian port of Baniyas. Once the Baniyas line - built in the 1950s but bombed by U.S. forces during the invasion that ousted Saddam - is reopened, Iraq would be using two terminals on the Mediterranean Sea. Currently, Iraq exports nearly all its oil through the Persian Gulf.
Al-Shahristani told Dow Jones that Iraq's current production capacity from its northern oil fields stands at 700,000 barrels a day, of which about 300,000 barrels a day are destined for a refinery in the nearby northern industrial city of Beiji for domestic use. The remainder is for export.
Last week, Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization announced a tender to sell 5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude through Turkey's Ceyhan port - the third tender of its kind this year. "As far as I know, we have over 5 million (barrels) of crude stocks in Ceyhan," al-Shahristani said.
He said he expected Iraq to maintain the same level of exports from its northern fields, citing new measures to prevent sabotage of pipelines. He said the measures include dispatching a security force, made up of tribesmen from the area and affiliated with his ministry, to guard the pipelines.
The pipeline - Iraq's main export route from Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan - has been mostly closed because of constant sabotage since the U.S.-led war. Two weeks ago, Iraq agreed with Syria to repair and subsequently reopen another key pipeline, a 550-mile-long link connecting Kirkuk and the Syrian port of Baniyas. Once the Baniyas line - built in the 1950s but bombed by U.S. forces during the invasion that ousted Saddam - is reopened, Iraq would be using two terminals on the Mediterranean Sea. Currently, Iraq exports nearly all its oil through the Persian Gulf.
Al-Shahristani told Dow Jones that Iraq's current production capacity from its northern oil fields stands at 700,000 barrels a day, of which about 300,000 barrels a day are destined for a refinery in the nearby northern industrial city of Beiji for domestic use. The remainder is for export.
Last week, Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization announced a tender to sell 5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude through Turkey's Ceyhan port - the third tender of its kind this year. "As far as I know, we have over 5 million (barrels) of crude stocks in Ceyhan," al-Shahristani said.
He said he expected Iraq to maintain the same level of exports from its northern fields, citing new measures to prevent sabotage of pipelines. He said the measures include dispatching a security force, made up of tribesmen from the area and affiliated with his ministry, to guard the pipelines.
Labels: Baniyas line, Ceyhan, Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq, Kirkuk, oil, SOMO, Turkey
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Shell may be first foreign oil and gas company to re-enter Iraq
Oil
(The New Anatolian) - Shell is poised to become the first oil and gas major to agree terms to re-enter Iraq following reports that it has struck a deal with Turkey’s state oil company, TPAO, to extract gas in the war-torn country, the Times said. The report went on to say that, “The Anglo-Dutch giant is expected to work in partnership with TPAO to build a pipeline from the Kirkuk field near Kurdistan to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, according to reports.
(The New Anatolian) - Shell is poised to become the first oil and gas major to agree terms to re-enter Iraq following reports that it has struck a deal with Turkey’s state oil company, TPAO, to extract gas in the war-torn country, the Times said. The report went on to say that, “The Anglo-Dutch giant is expected to work in partnership with TPAO to build a pipeline from the Kirkuk field near Kurdistan to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, according to reports.
A spokesman for the Turkish Energy Ministry said: “An agreement has been reached which has to be ratified by the administration in Baghdad.” Shell refused to rule out an agreement with TPAO but insisted there was still no legal framework in place in Baghdad to allow any contracts to be issued to foreign companies. Ian Bromilow, Shell’s chairman for Iraq, told The Times: “We have discussions but the contents of those discussions are really quite confidential. It is still very, very unclear what will happen in the sense that there is no petroleum law in place and the issue of security,” Bromilow said.
Iraq has some of the biggest oil and gas reserves in the world and speculation about Shell’s involvement has mounted in recent weeks. The oil major has long expressed an interest in returning to the country after being forced out when the industry was nationalised in 1972, and signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a plan for Iraq’s gas infrastructure in 2005. Last month industry in-siders claimed Shell managers met Iraqi officials in Oman to discuss investment terms for any future deals. The Iraqi Parliament is due to debate a draft Petroleum Law soon. Ratification would open the doors to billions of pounds of foreign investment.
Labels: Ceyhan, Gas, Ian Bromilow, Kirkuk, Shell, TPAO, Turkey
Monday, April 09, 2007
As oil exports grind to a halt, Iraq loses $165 mn a day
Oil, Finance
(Voices of Iraq) - Iraq is losing 165 million dollars a day as a result of halted crude oil exports via the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, an Iraqi oil ministry official said on Sunday. "Exports of Iraqi crude oil via Ceyhan – 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) – are now defunct due to acts of sabotage targeting export-oriented pipelines," the official told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani had appealed to the Kirkuk local council on Friday to protect the ministry's oil facilities and pipeline networks from sabotage. Shahrestani said, "the production capacity in Kirkuk is sufficient to meet the needs of the northern refineries in Kirkuk and Baiji but exporting via Ceyhan has been stopped because of constant acts of sabotage, which cost Iraq millions of dollars in daily losses."The Kirkuk council had accused the oil ministry of dereliction and failure to upgrade Kirkuk's oil installations that date back to the 1950s.
Meanwhile, a ministry official said that the Iraqi-Kuwaiti Oil Company will start pumping 3500 tons of oil derivatives to Iraq, in accordance with a contract between the two countries, to meet Iraq's fuels needs. Salah Fallah al-Aamiri, director of the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company, told VOI "negotiations are underway with Turkish companies to secure the needs of the northern parts of Iraq."
Aamiri indicated that operations to import oil from Iran are now facing technical problems, adding that Iraq was reconsidering the contracts signed with Iran because of the latter's failure to honor the signed agreements. Another Iraqi oil ministry official told VOI that the rate of Iraqi crude oil exports hit 1.561 million bpd in March, from which 12,000 barrels were being marketed via Syrian territories while the rest via Iraq's southern oil terminals.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani had appealed to the Kirkuk local council on Friday to protect the ministry's oil facilities and pipeline networks from sabotage. Shahrestani said, "the production capacity in Kirkuk is sufficient to meet the needs of the northern refineries in Kirkuk and Baiji but exporting via Ceyhan has been stopped because of constant acts of sabotage, which cost Iraq millions of dollars in daily losses."The Kirkuk council had accused the oil ministry of dereliction and failure to upgrade Kirkuk's oil installations that date back to the 1950s.
Meanwhile, a ministry official said that the Iraqi-Kuwaiti Oil Company will start pumping 3500 tons of oil derivatives to Iraq, in accordance with a contract between the two countries, to meet Iraq's fuels needs. Salah Fallah al-Aamiri, director of the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company, told VOI "negotiations are underway with Turkish companies to secure the needs of the northern parts of Iraq."
Aamiri indicated that operations to import oil from Iran are now facing technical problems, adding that Iraq was reconsidering the contracts signed with Iran because of the latter's failure to honor the signed agreements. Another Iraqi oil ministry official told VOI that the rate of Iraqi crude oil exports hit 1.561 million bpd in March, from which 12,000 barrels were being marketed via Syrian territories while the rest via Iraq's southern oil terminals.
Labels: Ceyhan, Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraqi-Kuwaiti Oil Company, oil, sabotage, Salah Fallah al-Aamiri
Saturday, March 10, 2007
JV between Royal Dutch Shell and Turkish companies
Oil
(Reuters) Turkish companies and Royal Dutch Shell have set up a consortium to bid for a gas production licence in Iraq and build a pipeline to Turkey's energy hub of Ceyhan, an industry source said on Friday. "There is a joint venture that has been set up to that end among TPAO (state-owned Turkish Petroleum Inc), Shell, (state pipeline operator) Botas and (Turkish firm) Tekfen," the source told Reuters at an energy conference in Istanbul.
The pipeline would run parallel to an existing oil pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. The source said the production of gas and its transport to Turkey were a focus of discussions between Iraqi, Turkish and U.S. officials at a meeting on Friday in Istanbul. Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler confirmed the meeting, saying it had been successful, but declined to comment on what had been discussed.
"This meeting was the first. We will meet again soon," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the energy conference.The U.S. State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary Matt Bryza, who attended the talks, said on Thursday Washington supported Turkey becoming a transit point to Europe for Azeri and Iraqi gas to provide a new source of gas and break the dominance of Russian giant Gazprom. Bryza said the energy map of Europe would change if gas from Iraq could be incorporated in the future with gas from ex-Soviet republics such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, but said this would require clear signals to investors.
Last week, Guler said foreign firms had expressed interest in working with TPAO, Turkey's state oil exploration firm, in its search for crude and natural gas in northern Iraq.The latest energy moves follow the Iraqi cabinet's recent endorsement of a draft oil law that regulates how the war-shattered country's oil wealth will be shared between its ethnic and sectarian groups.The law, which must still be approved by the Baghdad parliament, allows regional administrations in Iraq to negotiate contracts with international energy companies. But it would also put oil revenues into a central account which would then be distributed according to population. There are currently oil pipelines from: Kirkuk-Ceythan, Kirkuk-Banias, Mosul-Haifa (Not active), Rumaijlah-Kuwait and Umm Qasar.
Labels: Botas, Ceyhan, Royal Dutch Shell, Tekfen, TPAO
