Basra is one of the most important oil cities in the world, and the second most important province in Iraq, and its roots in terms of oil wealth.
The Iraqi government headed by Haider Abadi seeks to intensify the efforts of ministries and follow up their work, especially the Ministry of Oil, which is working on the development of oil fields and increase production with a focus on the fields of Basra to take its real place in the world and contribute to the economic development in Iraq .
In the context of the reforms carried out by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, within the plans and guidance of its independent minister oil expert Jabbar al-Aluaibi, agreed with US Company Orin, which was founded in North America in 2001, to invest gas associated with oil operations in the field of Ben Omar in the province of Basra.
Which is one of the achievements of the ministry, which provides for an agreement with the US company Orin to invest gas associated with oil operations in the field of Ben Omar in the province of Basra, as a culmination of attracting foreign investment in the oil field in Iraq as a result of confidence in the ministry achieved by the efforts and guidance Aluaibi.
It is certain that foreign investments are working to introduce advanced technology to the oil industry, which suffers from the old methods of introduction and not keep pace with the scientific and technological developments in the past decades, which will lead to a significant increase in the total production capacity of the oil sector.
Foreign investment works to provide international expertise in the field of training and development of local technicians, which raises the level of their skills and ability to deal with advanced oil technology and give them technical and managerial expertise in the establishment and management of oil projects, in view of the long experience and knowledge enjoyed by the foreign investor.
It also works to transfer the organizational and administrative capabilities to the oil industrial project through the training programs and the practical practice of the technicians and administrators, ie the foreign investor provides how to manage the production process, maintenance, technical services, marketing, and procurement, and financial management, regulation of administrative affairs, safety, security and training.
On the level of Arab cooperation: Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said that Iraq welcomes all Arab and foreign companies wishing to invest and implement development projects in the oil sector. Al-Laibi welcomed the Algerian investments in Iraq and stressed the country’s keenness to develop bilateral relations with the brothers in Algeria, and expressed his hope that concrete steps will be taken towards a partnership agreement with Sonatrach, which can benefit from its experience in the development of the gas industry and the optimal investment of this wealth and in other fields.
For his part, Algerian Energy Minister Mustapha Qaitouni stressed his country’s keenness to strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation in the field of energy, oil and gas, in a joint news conference with Al-Aluaibi.
Qitouni added that the aim of the visit to Iraq was to strengthen cooperation between the two countries … and to hold talks and consultations with brothers in Iraq and to increase the volume of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the fields of gas investment and oil exploration and others, especially that Sonatrach Algerian company has the great experience to achieve the common goals between the two countries.
In the context of Arab investments in the Iraqi oil sector, Qatar Petroleum Company expressed its desire to work and invest in Iraq and its commitment to provide all the possibilities and requirements for the success of the work.
Al-Luaibi welcomed QP in Iraq and all Arab and foreign companies wishing to invest and execute development projects in the Iraqi oil sector, which has become a promising investment environment attracting investments and international companies.
Iraq is working to provide ways of success of the work of international companies and cooperation with them in order to achieve common goals and interests, encouraging global investments to develop the oil and gas industry and the liquidation sector and infrastructure to achieve the highest economic return to Iraq. ”
The Ministry of Oil invited international companies to participate in the investment and develop nine border fields with Iran and Kuwait, as well as other tenders in the sectors of gas investment and extraction and liquidation, drilling, pipelines and infrastructure and others.
Al-Luaibi said that the efforts of the ministry in the optimal investment of gas wealth resulted in a preliminary agreement to invest gas in the field of Ben Omar in the province of Basra noting that the field of the river Ben Omar, which is one of the promising fields in southern Iraq, is being developed by the national effort to increase production.
The province of Basra is the largest oil wealth in Iraq, as statistics indicate that it owns 15 fields, including 12 producers, and contain rocks in these fields’ oil reserves of more than 67.8 billion barrels, accounting for about 59% of the total Iraqi oil reserves.
The oil reserves of the southern provinces (Basra, Maysan and Dhi Qar) are about 81.6 billion barrels, or 71% of the total reserves in Iraq, which means that the bulk of the oil reserves are concentrated in the south, especially Basra.
Oil fields in Basrah Governorate
The number of fields discovered in Iraq is 71 fields, of which only 27 have been exploited, of which 10 are giant fields. The oil and gas fields are currently concentrated in Basrah which contains in 12 producing field while the number of underdeveloped fields are 18 fields and the number of partially developed oil fields 8 fields hile producing reservoirs are 114 ones .
The most prominent giant oil fields in Basra are :
The Northern Rumaila Field: The giant of the Iraqi fields, the ninth largest oil field in the world, and the production of it is characterized as one of the finest oil, and its exploitation dates back to the year 1970, as the number of wells were about 20 wells, and now 340 oil wells.
The field is located 65 kilometers west of Basra, extending from its west to the south and its southern part enters the State of Kuwait.
2. Nahr bin Omar field: It is one of Basra’s giant fields located 30 km north-west of the city of Basra, began drilling in 1971 and the flow of oil from 1972 and exported in 1975. The current production is more than 40 thousand barrels per day of crude oil and 25 million cubic feet Standard of raw gas.
And its production is still modest, and can increase its production capacity after development, because it has many undeveloped reservoirs, and the main productive reservoirs are areas of Zubair / River of Omar,
The field has one production plant, and contains 15 oil wells and no water injection wells.
3 – West Qurna Field: One of the largest oil fields in Iraq, located 65 km northwest of the city of Basra, began production in 1998 and is believed to contain a proven reserve estimated at (18) billion barrels, and a potential reserve estimated at (40) billion barrels.
The producing reservoirs in the field are: al-Mushrif / Saadi / Zubair. The number of oil wells in it amounted 247 wells. While the number of wells in the water injection is 64 wells, and the number of production stations are three stations.
4 – Majnoon field: It is one of the giant fields in Iraq, one of the rich oil fields in the world, which contains a proven oil reserves , a range between 23-25 billion barrels, and it has been called by the name of the Mjnoon ( crazy ) due to the crazy abundance of crude oil under a limited area in the eastern Shatt al-Arab .
The Ministry of Oil is working hard to achieve important steps in the rehabilitation of oil facilities in Kirkuk and under the guidance of its Minister to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil for the extraction Karim Hattab to provide all the available possibilities to support oil projects in the province of Kirkuk and the formation of follow-up teams and supervision by the agents and officials of other oil companies to visit the province for the purpose of coexistence and daily follow-up of the ongoing rehabilitation and development operations in oil fields and facilities, refineries, pipelines, distribution and others.
Hattab stressed the keenness of the ministry to rehabilitate and develop facilities and oil fields in the province of Kirkuk in order to sustain and increase production from the fields of Kirkuk and resume exports and the ministry has made important progress in rehabilitating oil facilities in Kirkuk, noting that the size of oil wealth is estimated at 8, 13 billion barrels, consisting 12% from Iraqi oil reserves.
Hattab added that he met with the Governor of Kirkuk, Rakan Jubouri and discussed with him the concerted efforts of all concerned parties to achieve the goals and plans to promote the oil and gas industry in the province, and upgrading the level of services provided to citizens.
In a related context to the achievements of the Ministry of Oil, Al-Aluaibi announced an unprecedented “increase” in the investment of raw gas in the project of the Basrah Gas Company by 80%, with an investment of 230 (M .cubic feet ), noting that this great achievement will enhance the country’s capabilities in the export of liquid gas ,Natural gas and maximize sustainable development and increase investor confidence in petrochemical and fertilizer projects because of stability in the abundance of raw material for these industries, which is refined gas.
According to preliminary estimates of the Ministry of Oil that Iraq has a reserve estimated at 132 trillion cubic feet of gas, about 70% of Iraqi gas is a gas associated for the extraction of oil to be treated, and Iraq ranks eleventh among the countries of the world rich in natural gas.
Shatha Khalil
Economic unity
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies