Iraq shortlists companies for oilfield studies (24/11/04)

Iraq has narrowed the race for its first post-war contracts to study the country's major oilfields and expects to announce the winners by the end of the year. Hazim Sultan, Iraq's oilfield development chief, said five companies had been shortlisted to study the vital Rumaila oilfields in the south, while four to five firms have been picked to evaluate the north's giant Kirkuk field.

Only a few companies are in the running

"I hope we will award the contracts for both projects within a month," he said by telephone from Baghdad. He declined to identify the firms or say whether any of the companies were shortlisted for both contracts, each worth close to $5 million.

But at least a dozen companies, including oil majors Royal Dutch/Shell and BP along with a list of oil service companies had bid for the tender.

While not the major oilfield development deals that oil multinationals covet, these studies will mark Iraq's first pacts with foreign oil firms under Iraq's new government.

Companies have until the end of the month to submit more detailed proposals for the 77-year-old Kirkuk field, where pumping has dropped to about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 800,000 bpd under the previous regime. Revised plans for North and South Rumaila, crucial to the country's future production, are due by early December.

The reservoir studies will measure the recovery potential of the fields, which have reserves of over 10 billion barrels each, and compare it with present production levels. Decades of economic sanctions and wars have prevented Iraq from assessing its oilfields using modern techniques such as three-dimensional seismic mapping. Wells and surface facilities are also in need of rehabilitation.

Source: Reuters