Among recent activity in the continuing upsurge in oil-production related deals in Iraq is the news that Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) have signed a technical service contract with Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) and Missan Oil Company as State Partner, to redevelop the Zubair field, near Basra in southern Iraq.
The consortium, led by Eni (32.81 per cent) with partners Oxy (23.44 per cent), KOGAS (18.75 per cent) and the Missan Oil Company (25 per cent), plans to increase production from the Zubair field to 1.2mn barrels of oil a day, an increase of more than one million barrels of oil per day. Target production is expected to be progressively reached within the next six years and maintained for seven years thereafter.
The consortium will earn US$2 per barrel on the incremental oil production once production has been raised by ten per cent from its current level of approximately 200,000 barrels of oil per day and will recover its expenditures through a cost recovery mechanism.
The Zubair Field Operating Division will manage the rehabilitation and expansion project, which will be staffed mainly by employees from South Oil Company and expert support from the consortium. The aim is to progressively develop a self-sustained organisation.
