As the United States and its allies prepare to fight ISIS in
the Middle East, some energy companies start returning staff to Iraq eyeing
improvements in the security situation.
British energy company Genel Energy said on September 8 it
started returning staff to the Kurdish north of Iraq following improvements in
the security situation.
Meanwhile, British oil major BP said earlier in September
itagreed to nearly double production levels at the giant Rumaila oil
field in southern Iraq within the next decade to some 2.1 million barrels per
day.
Fadel Gheit, a senior oil and gas analyst
atOppenheimerin New York, toldNew
EuropeonSeptember 8 that the Iraqi government is trying to attract
oil companies by giving them better terms.
“That should be positive for the oil companies at least in
the near term because of the risk premium the market is putting on just
conducting business in Iraq. For all practical purposes the situation could
deteriorate although now the feeling is that things are going to change in
favor of the government and the US and European allies and others will target
this ISIS,” Gheit said.
The Oppenheimer analyst said it is not clear whether or not
companies are going to rush and send foreign nationals back to Iraq. “But they
will try as much as they can to keep the momentum going and to help the Iraqis
keep oil exports flowing,” he said.
On September 10, US President Barack Obama was expected to
announce that he will authorise US air strikes in Syria as part of a broadening
international mission to take the fight to militants from the Islamic State in
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In his prime time address to the nation about the
threat of the Islamic State, Obama plans to vow a “relentless effort” to wipe
out the terrorists “wherever they exist”.
Meanwhile, Genel Energy said on September 8 that operations
at the Taq Taq and Tawke oil fields in the Kurdish region of Iraq
weresafe and secure. Production from the two fields is unaffected by the
violence and combined production is on a record pace, with an average of
234,000 barrels of oil per day since the start of September. In terms of
exports, the company said about 182,000 barrels per day was leaving the fields
in the north.
Also, Canadian energy company Oryx Petroleum said “tangible
improvements” in the Kurdish north of Iraq mean it canreturn to
workat the Hawler license area.
But Gheit noted that Iraqi oil production is not going to
increase significantly but it’s not going to decline either. “I doubt it very
much that the oil companies will accelerate their activities in Iraq. But most
likely they are going to keep activities at the same level as two or three or
four months ago,” he said.
“They were basically beginning to retreat and the Iraqi
government saw that and they tried to reassure them that things are improving
and obviously the last thing the US and the coalition would want to see that
the government of Iraq failed because of lack of support from the West as well
as lack of protection of the oil workers,” he added.
Gheitdescribed ISIS as “former mostly Sunni
hard-liners that were fired by the American administration early in the
occupation of Iraq which was a bad strategic mistake”. But he added that the tide
is turning now with ISIS and in recent days apparently the US increased bombing
these terrorists and that degraded their capability significantly.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/us-strikes-isis-ease-iraqi-oil-concerns