Thursday, September 20, 2007
LUKoil to have advatage in West Qurna-2 tender
Oil
(Bloomberg, AP) - LUKoil will have an advantage in a new tender for the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said, Interfax reported Wednesday. LUKoil's investments and work at the field will be taken into consideration should the oil producer bid, Zebari said, Interfax reported. The minister invited LUKoil chief executive Vagit Alekperov to Iraq, Interfax said.
LUKoil has been lobbying Iraq to recognize the West Qurna-2 contract that it signed with former dictator Saddam Hussein's government. LUKoil wants to develop the field with shareholder ConocoPhillips. LUKoil's 1997 contract to drill at West Qurna-2, which has an estimated reserve capacity of 4 billion barrels, has been hamstrung under the new authorities in Iraq. The Iraqi parliament is expected to pass a new law that will review previous oil contracts and open the way to a wave of tenders to tap Iraq's enormous oil wealth.
LUKoil has been lobbying Iraq to recognize the West Qurna-2 contract that it signed with former dictator Saddam Hussein's government. LUKoil wants to develop the field with shareholder ConocoPhillips. LUKoil's 1997 contract to drill at West Qurna-2, which has an estimated reserve capacity of 4 billion barrels, has been hamstrung under the new authorities in Iraq. The Iraqi parliament is expected to pass a new law that will review previous oil contracts and open the way to a wave of tenders to tap Iraq's enormous oil wealth.
Labels: ConocoPhillips, Hoshyar Zibari, LUKoil, oil, tender, Vagit Alekperov, West Qurna-2
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Russian govt. backs LUKoil's bid to develop Iraqi oil field
Oil, Business
(Financial Times) - The Russian government is throwing its full support behind Lukoil's ambition to become the first big international energy group to develop a major Iraqi oil field following the 2003 US invasion.
Vagit Alekperov, Lukoil's chief executive, said in an interview on Tuesday: "The Russian government supports us, the foreign ministry supports us, the president of the federation supports us. They support the idea of putting those Iraqi fields [into production] as soon as possible. In all these areas we have the support of the Russian government."
He added that Lukoil would be able to develop the West Qurna field two to three times more quickly than any other company. "We are ready to move really fast," he said. "The situation in South Iraq is pretty stable and we have no problem starting operations right after the passage of the hydrocarbon law and once we have the necessary approvals," he said. Iraq's parliament aims to pass the law by the end of next month.
West Qurna is believed to hold as many as 11bn-15bn barrels of recoverable oil reserves and has a potential to produce as many as 1m barrels a day, making it one of the world's biggest fields. International energy companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP have been waiting for the security situation in Iraq to improve before developing fields, and analysts believe the situation in the Shia-dominated region close to the southern port of Basra where West Qurna is located is far from predictable.
But at least one US company would benefit if Iraq's oil ministry assigned the development of West Qurna to Lukoil. In 2004 ConocoPhillips, the US's third largest energy group, formed a strategic partnership with Lukoil in which the US company gradually expanded its stake to just shy of 20 per cent. At the time of the announcement, the companies noted the eventually development of West Qurna as one of their motives for the deal.
Lukoil has spent more than a decade angling for West Qurna. In spite of United Nations sanctions, the company signed a deal with Saddam Hussein, Iraq's deposed president, in 1997 to develop the field. But in 2002, shortly before the US invasion, Baghdad rescinded the deal, saying it was angered by Lukoil's attempts to get assurances from the opposition that it would keep the contract in case Mr Hussein's regime fell. In the past two years Lukoil has spent $20m to train 1000-2000 Iraqi oil field engineers in Russian fields, put another 100 through Russian universities and provide equipment for Iraq's oil industry.
Vagit Alekperov, Lukoil's chief executive, said in an interview on Tuesday: "The Russian government supports us, the foreign ministry supports us, the president of the federation supports us. They support the idea of putting those Iraqi fields [into production] as soon as possible. In all these areas we have the support of the Russian government."
He added that Lukoil would be able to develop the West Qurna field two to three times more quickly than any other company. "We are ready to move really fast," he said. "The situation in South Iraq is pretty stable and we have no problem starting operations right after the passage of the hydrocarbon law and once we have the necessary approvals," he said. Iraq's parliament aims to pass the law by the end of next month.
West Qurna is believed to hold as many as 11bn-15bn barrels of recoverable oil reserves and has a potential to produce as many as 1m barrels a day, making it one of the world's biggest fields. International energy companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP have been waiting for the security situation in Iraq to improve before developing fields, and analysts believe the situation in the Shia-dominated region close to the southern port of Basra where West Qurna is located is far from predictable.
But at least one US company would benefit if Iraq's oil ministry assigned the development of West Qurna to Lukoil. In 2004 ConocoPhillips, the US's third largest energy group, formed a strategic partnership with Lukoil in which the US company gradually expanded its stake to just shy of 20 per cent. At the time of the announcement, the companies noted the eventually development of West Qurna as one of their motives for the deal.
Lukoil has spent more than a decade angling for West Qurna. In spite of United Nations sanctions, the company signed a deal with Saddam Hussein, Iraq's deposed president, in 1997 to develop the field. But in 2002, shortly before the US invasion, Baghdad rescinded the deal, saying it was angered by Lukoil's attempts to get assurances from the opposition that it would keep the contract in case Mr Hussein's regime fell. In the past two years Lukoil has spent $20m to train 1000-2000 Iraqi oil field engineers in Russian fields, put another 100 through Russian universities and provide equipment for Iraq's oil industry.
Labels: ConocoPhillips, Iraq Oil, LUKoil, Vagit Alekperov, West Qurna
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Russian oil company plans to drill in southern Iraq
Oil
(ITAR-TASS) LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov said his company is ready to begin an exploration and development project in Iraq's Western Qurna-2 field within 26 months should the Iraqi government approve LUKoil's proposals, ITAR-TASS reported on March 6. "I hope that the Iraqi government will take rationality of our proposals at their true value," Alekperov said. The oil field, considered Iraq's largest with reserves of around 6 billion tons, is located northwest of Al-Basrah. Meanwhile, Chinese oil officials will meet with Iraqi government representatives in Baghdad on March 6 to discuss Hussein-era contracts, Reuters reported on March 5. Before the 2003 Iraq war, China reached a $700 million deal with Saddam Hussein's government to develop the Al-Ahdab oil field, also located in southern Iraq.
COMMENT: LUKoil's involvement with Iraq is not new. In March 1997, the company, along with other Russian companies signed a $3.8-billion deal with Iraq's Ministry of Oil on the second stage of developing Western Qurna oil field. LUKOIL were to hold 52.% of the production-sharing contract. In December 2003, LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov met with the Chairman of the Temporary Governing Council of Iraq, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim to discuss development of the West Qurnah-2 oilfield. In March 2004 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and cooperation was signed by Alekperov and Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulyum, Minister of Oil of Iraq. During 2005 LUKoil provided humanitarian aid to the Ministry of Oil and internships for Iraqi oil experts in accordance with the MOU. By 2006 LUKoil had fulfilled the technical side of it's commitments according to the MOU. http://www.lukoil.com/ COMMENT ENDS.
Labels: Basra, LUKoil, Qurna-2, Vagit Alekperov
