Thursday, March 22, 2007
Gas pipeline to be built to link gas networks in Syria and Iraq
Gas, Syria
(Iraq Directory) Ali Abbas, director general of the Syrian Gas Company affiliated to the Syrian Ministry of Oil, said that there is coordination with Iraq for the establishment of a central gas pipeline, at a length of 500 kilometers in order to link gas networks in Syria and Iraq. Abbas pointed out that "Iraq and Syria will cooperate to develop gas fields discovered in Iraq and the transfer of raw gas to be processed in the Syrian labs in Deir Al-Zour area on the border between the two countries in order to be transported across the Syrian network to Syrian consumers or exported towards Turkey and Europe".
Labels: Deir Al-Zour, natural gas, Syria, Syrian Gas Company
Monday, March 19, 2007
Russia worried about being frozen out of Iraqi oil deals
Oil, Business
(Reuters) - Russia, worried its firms may be frozen out of oil deals in Iraq, said on Monday it hoped a draft law regulating how Iraq's oil wealth is distributed will ensure Russian companies do not suffer discrimination. Moscow opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is concerned that when the Iraqi government starts handing out new concessions, Russian companies will lose out to firms from countries that backed the military operation.
The draft law, which was approved by Iraq's cabinet last month and now awaits approval by parliament, is seen as a key step to opening up Iraq -- home to the world's third largest oil reserves -- to foreign investment.
"The Russian side noted the importance of the adoption of an Iraqi law on hydrocarbons which correspondents to international standards," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"(Russia) expressed the hope that it (the law) will allow non-discriminatory access for companies from a variety of countries, including Russian firms, to the Iraqi oil and gas market, and underlined the readiness of Russian companies to participate in rebuilding Iraq's economy." Russian companies, led by oil major, signed deals to develop Iraqi reserves with the former administration under Saddam Hussein. These have been on hold since the invasion.
The draft law, which was approved by Iraq's cabinet last month and now awaits approval by parliament, is seen as a key step to opening up Iraq -- home to the world's third largest oil reserves -- to foreign investment.
"The Russian side noted the importance of the adoption of an Iraqi law on hydrocarbons which correspondents to international standards," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"(Russia) expressed the hope that it (the law) will allow non-discriminatory access for companies from a variety of countries, including Russian firms, to the Iraqi oil and gas market, and underlined the readiness of Russian companies to participate in rebuilding Iraq's economy." Russian companies, led by oil major, signed deals to develop Iraqi reserves with the former administration under Saddam Hussein. These have been on hold since the invasion.
Labels: draft oil law, natural gas, oil deals, Russia
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
New studies show substantial oil and natural gas deposits in Sunni lands
Oil
(New York Times) Iraq has substantially increased its estimates of the amount of oil and natural gas in deposits on Sunni lands after quietly paying foreign oil companies tens of millions of dollars over the past two years to re-examine old seismic data across the country and retrain Iraqi petroleum engineers.
Although engineers in Iraq and the West have always known there are some oil formations beneath Sunni lands, the issue is coming into much sharper focus with the new studies, according to senior Iraqi Oil Ministry officials. The question of where Iraq's oil reserves are concentrated is taking on still more importance as it appears that negotiators are close to agreement on a long-debated oil law that would regulate how Iraqi and international oil companies would be allowed to develop Iraq's fields.
The new studies have increased estimates of the amount of oil in a series of deposits in Sunni territory to the north and east of Baghdad and in a series of deposits that run through western Iraq like beads on a string, and could contain as much as a trillion cubic feet of natural gas. And while it would take years to actually begin pulling gas and oil out of the fields even if the area soon became safe enough for companies to work in, energy corporations have been excited about the area's potential, even if it falls short of reserves in the Shiite south and Kurdish north. The deposit is the Akkas field, one of the beads on the string that runs from Ninewa Province in the north to the border with Saudi Arabia in the south.
Although engineers in Iraq and the West have always known there are some oil formations beneath Sunni lands, the issue is coming into much sharper focus with the new studies, according to senior Iraqi Oil Ministry officials. The question of where Iraq's oil reserves are concentrated is taking on still more importance as it appears that negotiators are close to agreement on a long-debated oil law that would regulate how Iraqi and international oil companies would be allowed to develop Iraq's fields.
The new studies have increased estimates of the amount of oil in a series of deposits in Sunni territory to the north and east of Baghdad and in a series of deposits that run through western Iraq like beads on a string, and could contain as much as a trillion cubic feet of natural gas. And while it would take years to actually begin pulling gas and oil out of the fields even if the area soon became safe enough for companies to work in, energy corporations have been excited about the area's potential, even if it falls short of reserves in the Shiite south and Kurdish north. The deposit is the Akkas field, one of the beads on the string that runs from Ninewa Province in the north to the border with Saudi Arabia in the south.
Labels: Akkas field, natural gas, oil, Sunni territory
