Iraq has revised its medium-term oil field redevelopment plan, meaning that production will be slightly lower than the previous 12 million barrel a day target, but will maintain its plateau level for 20 years instead of seven, said the country's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, Hussein al-Shahristani, Wednesday.
Iraq has revised its medium-term oil field redevelopment plan, meaning
that production will be slightly lower than the previous 12 million barrel a
day target, but will maintain its plateau level for 20 years instead of seven,
said the country's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, Hussein al-Shahristani,
Wednesday.
Iraq
expects to be producing between 5 million and 6 million barrels a day of oil by
2015, around double its current level, Shahristani told reporters at the Iraq
Refinery conference in
London
. He
declined to give the revised plateau production target, but said the reduction
from 12 million barrels a day will only be minor.
The revision of the plan, which was seen as highly unrealistic by many industry
analysts, was undertaken to "maximize the recovery from each field...and
extend the plateau production," to 2035, Shahristani said.
Despite the change of plan, the redevelopment of
Iraq
's
depleted old oil fields will remain a significant force in the oil market,
Shahristani said. "
Iraq
is
planning to increase its production and exports significantly this year and
next year. This should calm the oil market as to the availability of sufficient
supply," he said.
The planned oil production increase, from a base of just under 3 million
barrels a day currently, will come from the renovation of many large, but
depleted oil fields that were starved of investment during decades of sanctions
and conflict. Major international oil companies are leading these projects and
have already produced an increase in Iraqi production of around 500,000 barrels
a day over the past year, Shahristani said.
Shahristani did not agree with comments Tuesday from Venezuelan oil minister,
Rafael Ramirez, that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is
over-producing and flooding the market with oil.
"We have not seen any data that indicate there is over-production within
OPEC. As a matter of fact, there has been some reduction is supply outside OPEC
that has been met by increases in OPEC production. We see the market as
balanced," he said.
Shahristani reiterated that
Baghdad
will
not recognize contracts any oil company signs with the regional government in
Kurdistan
. "Any
company that will sign [a contract with the Kurdish government] will be treated
in the same way [as Exxon Mobil]," he said. "They will be told that
their contract has no standing, that it's illegal."
Pressure from
Baghdad
has
forced Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to freeze its plans for oil exploration in
Kurdistan
, he
said. "Exxon has sent a letter to the ministry of oil confirming that they
are not going to take any actions on the ground for field development--shooting
seismic, drilling and so on--until their contract is approved by the Iraqi
government and a solution has been found. That has been accepted by the
ministry of oil," Shahristani said.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01