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In Iraq, a seldom mentioned and noteworthy oil cooperation is carried out between Baghdad and Moscow. Russian companies, namely Rosneft and Lukoil have developed new oil fields in Iraq.
A notable project is Lukoil’s West Qurna-2.
West Qurna-2 field is located in the southern part of Iraq, 65 kilometers north-west of Basra, a major seaport city, and is one of the world’s largest fields. The field’s initial recoverable reserves come to around 14 billion barrels. Its total geological reserves sit at 35 billion barrels of oil.
On December 12, 2009 the consortium of PJSC LUKOIL and Statoil, a Norwegian company, was awarded a contract for the development of West Qurna-2 field, one of the world’s largest fields. On January 31, 2010, a services contract was signed for the development and production at West Qurna-2. The contract was ratified by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Iraq.
A supplement agreement to the contract was signed in January 2013 that outlined the target contractual production (1.2 million barrels of oil per day) for the target production period of 19.5 years, and a 25-year extension of the contract term.
It has been producing oil since March 29th, 2014.
This was a result of short-term and large-scale field development. This included mine clearance, drilling of 48 production wells, preparation of 5 well sites and construction of large production facilities: oil treatment plants with a capacity of more than 400 thousand barrels per day, a gas turbine power plant with a capacity of 126 MW , water intake on the Euphrates River, an export pipeline of 102 km in length, additional reservoirs at the oil terminal with a total volume of about 200 thousand cubic meters, as well as numerous infrastructure facilities, including a shift camp for 1000 people, access roads, infield pipelines, a security perimeter and more.
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In total for 2014-2020. More than 120 million tons of oil were produced. 120 production wells and 48 injection wells were drilled. The current production level is 400 thousand barrels per day from the Mishrif reservoir.
The current level of production is 400 thousand barrels per day from the Mishrif formation, which is almost 10% of Iraqi oil exports.
Since the start of the Service contract, LUKOIL has invested about $ 9 billion in the project.
In 2019, LUKOIL commenced drilling of new production wells as part of the second development phase. The Сompany concluded contracts to drill 57 production wells, including 54 wells at Mishrif formation and 3 wells at Yamama formation. The drilling campaign will ramp up production at West Qurna-2 from the current level of 400 thousand barrels per day to 480 thousand barrels per day in 2020.
75% of the project is under Lukoil’s ownership. The other 25% are owned by the North Oil Company (NOC), a state-owned company being a part of the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Notably, NOC does not incur any costs receiving only its share (25%) in the remuneration.
Another notable oil field developed and discovered by Russia is the Salman oilfield in Block 12 in Iraq.
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This happened in May 2018.
Bashneft International B.V., a Rosneft subsidiary, has discovered a new oil field named Salman, following the drilling of the first exploration well in Block 12 in the Republic of Iraq.
The exploration well was successfully drilled to the depth of 4,277 meters resulting in an oil flow that allows counting on discovering commercial reserves.
The Company considers this discovery an important landmark in upstream projects abroad.
Block 12 is located in the southwest Iraq, in an unexplored area of the Arabian Plate, approximately 80 km to the south of the city of As-Samawah and 130 km to the west of the city of Nasiriyah. It has an area of 7,680 sq km. Bashneft International B.V. is an operator of the project.
Bashneft International B.V. owns 70% of the project. Premier Oil (30%) and South Oil Company also participate in the project.
A contract for exploration, development and production at Block 12 was signed in November 2012.
The compulsory geological exploration program at Block 12 included 2D seismic surveys in the amount of 2,000 km and drilling 1 exploration well.
Upon confirmation of commercial stocks, the contract will be valid for 20 years. The premium for produced oil will be $5 per barrel.
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The interest Russian companies have in working in Iraq dates even before the Saddam Hussein era.
The first company to return to post-Saddam Iraq was LUKOIL, which did not lose interest in projects in this country both during the Iraqi sanction period (1990-2003) and after the overthrow of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The biggest project it involved itself in was the above-described West Qurna-2.
Obviously, despite the risks remaining in Iraq, LUKOIL’s strategy was designed for the long term. This is due to the expansion of LUKOIL’s activities when, in 2012, the company, together with the Japanese INPEX CORPORATION, acquired the right to exploration and subsequent development of Block 10.
In 2017, LUKOIL and INPEX successfully completed the tests of the first exploratory well, Erisu 1 at Block 10.
The company is now striving to increase production at West Qurna-2 from the current 400,000 to 480,000 barrels per day in 2020. The contractual framework for LUKOIL’s work in Iraq is being updated on a mutually beneficial basis between the government and the company. So, in 2013, the contract was extended until 2035.
In January 2010, the Russian company Gazprom Neft received the status of the operator of a large Badra field, winning a tender in a consortium with Kogas (Korea), Petronas (Malaysia), and TRAO (Turkey).
However, in addition to this, Gazprom Neft has fields and in Iraqi Kurdistan the company acts as the operator of two projects in Iraqi Kurdistan – Jackal and Garmian. The Garmian block also includes the development of the Sarkal field, in which Gazprom Neft plans to increase oil production.
As described above, Bashneft developed Block 12 in the provinces of Musanna and Najaf. Nevertheless, with the growing political interest of Russia in the region, the positions of Russian energy companies, including Rosneft, were strengthened. In this context, in 2017, within the framework of the 21st St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Rosneft entered into an Investment Agreement with the Government of Iraqi Kurdistan (according to open sources, the deal amounted to $4 billion).
In addition to the fields in the oil-bearing Kirkuk, which at that time were controlled by the Kurds, Rosneft also switched over the significant oil infrastructure of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The key was the acquisition by Rosneft of the status of operator and ownership of 60% of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which had already been modernized and increased throughput from 700 thousand to 950 thousand barrels per day.
In 2018, exploration was announced and Rosneft began operations in Iraqi Kurdistan at the Batil, Zawita, Qasrok, Harir-Bejil and Darato fields, each of which is 80% owned by a Russian company.
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The visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in October 2019 to Iraq was the first in 5 years. Together with Lavrov, the head of Soyuzneftegaz Yuri Shafranik, the director of Gazprom Neft Alexander Dyukov, representatives of Rosneft and Technopromexport went to Baghdad and Erbil.
However, no major transactions were announced.
This appeared as a slowdown in Russia-Iraqi relations. Despite this, during Sergey Lavrov’s visit, a number of memorandums of cooperation were signed, which could become the basis for further building up the Russian presence in Iraq.
Reportedly, according to Russian officials, Russian companies could potentially invest up to $45 billion in Iraq by 2035.
The key Russian private companies and state corporations, whose leaders are members of the Russian ruling elite, are represented in Iraq.
These same elites determine the importance of projects in this country for the Russian decision makers.
At the same time, in Iraq itself, Russia interacts with both Erbil and Baghdad. In the event of a conflict, Russian companies demonstrate flexibility and manage to maintain their position.
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This is a win-win for Russia, Iraq and Iran as all will benefit. China should also be invited to both Syria and Iraq.
The russians are coming
and the yankee-twats are going home. no future in iraq for the gang of white house corrupt criminals.yet another defeat to chalk up in a long line of defeats.
they should have come in years ago, imagine how much more SAA would control with chinese forces helping them also
China wants to drill on its own in South China Sea. The age of oil comes to an end.
No it hasn’t,us petrodolla yes,oil no!
Regarding this nickname ‘petrodollar’ — I don’t remember during my life that dollar and oil price graph ever look the same, but if you compare the Ruble and the Oil price they look the same without exception. The truth is the Ruble is the one tight of the barel price, not the Dollar. The Dollar is way bigger to care of the oil price.
u mean Gas! not oil! Gonna be hard to extract gas with Vietnam, Malaysia. Phillipines, Indonesia, Taiwan claiming it for themselves! Then the open sea’s treaty which enables all nations to traverse these waters including the navy ships of the USA, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Phillipines, South Korea, UK, France etc etc!
The day China starts extracting Gas from there newly claimed territorial waters is the day WW3 begins! its that simple!
USA only wants to freely traverse but I doubt they could try to stop Anyone drilling there. China tries to stop Vietnam but Nam teamed with Gazprom and China has no guts to say anything against Russia. That could be a sign that all they say against USA is hot air.
Well the USA and UK can easily enforce the laws of maritime admiralty! which is the law of water! China has no authority to break this law! UK and US navy’s act as police of the waters! They always have! trade routes are important and must remian open! Claims to these waters have been contested for a long time but none more so than recent times due to the gas fields discovered! Suddenly China claims it! If they start drilling it will be illegal! USA, Australia, UK, France and all the smaller nations in that area will contest against it! China would have to choose between going to war or making a claim in the world court which they would surely lose! In the end most will want a piece of the pie and the gas would be shared! In reality China was building these islands so that one day (in 10 years) their navy might be sufficient to deter anyone who protested against their plans to drill! Its not going to happen! in time China’s islands will be either dismantled or grabbed by the UK and the USA! China will have built those islands only to hand them over and create MORE resistance against them! China thinks they can bully their way into this region but they are nowhere near strong enough as a navy to do this! Russia doesnt want China drilling for gas either as they prefer China to be dependent upon Russia allowing Russia some leverage over China!! Nobody wants china doing anything in the ocean! They will kill all the aquatic life and hide the fact they did it!
I’curious of the outcome too but Chinese know that time runs in their favor, they slowly take over all the smaller economies in the region and the poor countries will accept China’s land grabs in exchange for trade. In other news a French fregate just got scared by a Turkish fregate in Mediteranean sea, they ran crying at NATO headquarters. 2 years ago Australian plane got threated by Chinese near the artificial islands and they didn’t bothered them since then. Since Russia occupied Crimea they permanently keep the middle of the Black Sea closed under pretext of military drills, this is what the Chinese will do also, millitary drills 90% of the time.
3 US super carriers (and the armada of subs and destroyers which accompany them) have just surrounded China from the west, south and east! 1 near india, 1 near phillipines and Taiwan and 1 near japan!
Also 7 US submarines (i suspect attack subs) are in the straight between Taiwan and China!
Australia cant do shit alone! But Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Phillipines, Thailand, Vietnam and even New Zealand CAN!
Now add in UK (singapore is Crown land), now add in USA, now add in India!
China is super desperate which is why they have basically taken over Hong Kong only for HK to lose its financial hub status!
China MUST (otherwise they are truly fucked) take Taiwan! Taiwan is one of the worlds 5 major Rare Earth mineral nations! (a reason why Japan in WW2 and China now wants Australia). Rare Earth minerals are the modern day Oil! Because all future tech economies and energy based systems that will replace a lot of fossil fuels through renewables rely on REM!
China is going to be sanctioned! its literally a fact! Tawian is also a great military staging base! An unsinkable aircraft carrier!
China is surrounded, have crappy subs, crappy Chinese made aircraft! OKAY missiles (hypersonic gliding missiles are not operational)!
China will be sanctioned, surrounded and will implode via revolution OR when they become the aggressor who attacks taiwan! Then they will be truly fucked! Either way, the CCP will end!
Since Trump came in its game over! thats why Covid-19 was created! to stop Trump getting re-elected! Because many of the Democratic leaders are paid off by China!
I don’t believe the covid theory but I agree with the rest, Russians don’t realize that they are at least equaly the same denger as West if China became the 1st economic power.
wow im trying to reply on Covid but i cant! this is happening a lot!
Covid theory is based on the obastacles brought forward during Trumps tenure! The day after impeachment ended, Covid was officially announced in the USA! what did Covid mean? Mail in voting (cheatable elections) No more rallies Keep Biden from holding Rallies to embarrass himself and hold small in home speeches written for him fuck the economies blame Trump for everything etc etc Also who benefits from Covid compared to who doesnt! Media said it would be 3% mortality rate! Ended up being 0.002! Keep in mind the common flu is 0.001 mortality rate! Do we stop entire economies for the flu? NO!
Where did you get that numbers from? I look here https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-rate/
CDC! they’ve been forced to admit! If you are Covid-19 BUT show no symptoms you have almost zero chance of transmitting it! This has now been admitted! They were forced to admit it after findings proved this! its just another Flu! Media has hyped it and blamed most flu deaths on Corona deaths! its all bullshit! Should we stay home if we have flu symptoms? YES Do older people and sick people sometimes die when they get a bad flu? YES Were they sending Covid-19 positive people into nursing homes in NEW York and other Dem states? YES Admitted on video by the mayors and governors!
Why has Flu deaths gone down yet covid deaths gone up? Because they are blaming flu deaths on Covid deaths!
its a media hype to push for mail in voting in the USA! its all about getting trump out of office!
check the CDC the mortality rate of the flu (which changes year to year) is 0.01 and 0.02 for covid!
in my country Australia around 380 people died of the Flu in 2017 1200 died in 2011 of the flu
This year Covid has killed only 102! (so far far less then the flu) We have winter here!
Check the mortality rate of the Flu and Cov-19 in each country!
Check the rate of Covid-19 in each DEMOCRAT run US state compared to Republican state!
Here’s how you calculate it, add the number of deaths to the number of recovered and you ave a totalof closed cases. Then take this sum, and multiply it again with the deaths and then split with 100.now you have the percentage. For USA is 1.000.000 recovered and 120.000 deaths, that would make 12% mortality.
Wuhan level 4 lab! Direct flights from Wuhan during Chinese new year to other countries! they KNEW they had this virus in November 9th 2019 If it was from “the wet markets” why did china reopen them after only 1 month?
The covid-19 occurred in the USA THE DAY AFTER impeachment was ended! Think about the news cycle! Trump defeats impeachment, special council russia russia russia! Now he can be blamed for corona!
there is much information stating the Dems are in league with China! Big crimes!
Chinese forces (besides numbers) would be humiliated! They are not combat hardened! you cant teach this shit! The SAA would put chinese forces to shame!
Fuck China!
Bought a awesome watch from usa,top value,will get another soon,yep impressed!
I know that you are speaking the truth but I can’t write everything.understand my situation
Think about the comment u just made here! WHY would russia want China there? Russia is not “FRIENDS” with China no mater how many military parades u have seen Russia and china do together! Did u know Russia is HEAVILY mobilising forces near the Chinese border and conducting the biggest drills since WW2?
Why would Russia SHARE anything they have done with China! Do u see the middle east as a joint where Russia and China do a “puff puff give”?
Russia wants to expand its sphere of influence and protect its national security interests! Why would they want China to benefit from this? China is a potential and future enemy for russia!
do u think Russia trusts China? Do u really? So u think Russia likes china copying its equipment?
do u even think straight?
Location waiting to be shelled by one of those secret militia groups (us, turkey or iran controlled)
If there is Yankees then it will be shelled