Shatha Khalil *
The Iraqi Oil Ministry registers a number of global achievements, whose success is due to the directives of Prime Minister Haider Abadi and his direct sponsorship and supervision on the implementation of sustainable development plans in the country to promote economic reality and stability.
These successes include what has been achieved by the Ministry of Oil under the direction of its independent minister Jabbar al-Luaibi in more than one field, especially the development of exploratory patches of great economic importance.
Al-Allaibi said , a man who has a history of sincerity to Iraq, integrity and professionalism in the positions occupied by him , the Ministry has decided to accelerate the invitation of investment companies to participate and compete for the development of these bordering exploratory patches , which reflects on increasing the oil and gas reserves of our country and enhance its role in this area, and to achieve the optimal investment of these areas and border oil fields, and to develop it with many benefits to the national economy.
Oil Minister Jabbar Ali Al-Luaibi stressed , during the bidding process for the development of 11 land and sea border exploration areas, on improving the border exploratory areas and develop them to increase oil reserves rates , which have been suffered from neglect and mismanagement for decades .
Al-Allaibi announced the transfer of 6 patches out of (11) exploratory areas for rehabilitation and development during the licensing round organized by the Department of contracts and Petroleum Licenses, noting that the eligible companies did not submit bids on the remaining (5) areas of the round of competition.
Al-Luaibi stressed the keenness of the National Government, the Ministry of Oil and all the supporting authorities to provide the appropriate environment for the work of the companies in Iraq and cooperation with them to reach the common goals. He indicated that the ministry took this step and invited the international companies to cooperate with it and contribute to development processes according to service contracts that are different from the previous ones, preparing and developing them by taking advantage of the observations of companies wishing to work and invest in Iraq.
The minister added that Iraq is a promising country in the oil industry and has significant investment opportunities in all sectors including gas, petrochemicals, liquidation, infrastructure and others.
Al-Luaibi pointed out that the ministry has recently achieved several important investment steps, which contribute to the development of the national oil industry and achieved the optimal investment for our oil wealth.
The Director General of the Department of Contracts and Petroleum Licenses Abdulmahdi Al-Amidi sheds light on the technical specifications of the exploration patches (11), stressing that the ministry has developed new versions of the service contracts for the round of licenses by the rehabilitation and development of land and sea border exploration and development, noting that the number of companies eligible to compete during the round amounted to (14) companies of Arab and foreign nationalities.
The spokesman of the ministry Assem Jihad said that the round resulted in the transfer of (6) patches of rehabilitation and development and the patches (Kalabat – Kammer and Khashm al-Ahmar – Anjana in the province of Diyala and khidher al-Ma in the province of Basra) and the UAE al-Hilal( Crescent ) won for its rehabilitation , in addition of 2 areas (Nafit Khana in Diyala province and Al Huweizah in Maysan province), which was won by the Chinese Jiu-Jied company , for its rehabilitation and Sindbad area in the province of Basra, which was won by the Chinese UEG company .
In the context of achievements, Al-Allaibi stressed the ministry’s keenness to promote the urban, service, tourism and recreational reality of the province of Basra for its role in supporting the national economy as a benevolent oil province.
Al-Luaibi said that the Investment Authority to grant the license of the project of the Muftiya tourist resort to the Daiku International Holding company at a cost of 234 million dollars, is an important step in the development process pursued by the ministry and it has made strenuous efforts to transform the site of the Muftia oil in Basra province to a recreational site and tourist landmark to this city which suffers a great shortage of services and infrastructure, stressing that all concerned parties are invited to cooperate in order to improve the service reality of the people of the province and work to develop them.
Al-Allaibi told the companies of the oil sector earlier in coordination with the concerned authorities in the province of Basra and the Investment Authority to set up a resort and a tourist landmark in the Muftiyah area and to prepare the infrastructure of the resort and to be appropriate to this economic city which suffers from neglect.
The oil products distribution company, the projects company, the pipeline company and the supporting bodies started preparing the appropriate ground for the project by lifting thousands of tons of rubble and transporting oil installations from Muftiyah to other parts of the governorate.
It is worth mentioning that the land on which the residential, recreational and commercial investment project will be implemented is owned by the Petroleum Products Distribution Company. The ministry has made great efforts to obtain the investment license for the tourist resort. It is hoped that a ceremony will be held in signing the referral of the project to the international company early next month .
These successes confirm the keenness of the Ministry of Oil under the supervision of its Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi to continue to serve Iraq in several areas and most important oil, tourism and investment and the rehabilitation of border exploration patches.
Economic Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Researches and Strategic Studies