Oil Companies Face Serious Decisions on Iraq

Many oil and gas companies face serious decisions regarding their short and mid-term plans in Iraq, where tensions remain high.

That’s according to Rystad Energy, which made the statement in a comment posted on its website on the 16^th January.

In the statement, Rystad highlighted that Iraqi oil production averaged more than 4.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019. The company outlined that around 1.8 million bpd stemmed from the country’s domestic and state-owned players and around three million bpd came from international oil firms.

Companies headquartered in China collectively produced more than one million bpd, E&Ps from the UK produced beyond 630,000 bpd and Russian players had combined average output of around 330,000 bpd, according to Rystad.

PetroChina and BP had the largest working interest production for overseas companies, at 880,000 and 606,000 bpd, respectively, Rystad noted. Rystad said US-based companies collectively produced about 180,000 bpd on average last year.

According to Rystad, before the recent flaring of tensions, BP had been expected to allocate about four percent of its annual US$25.6 billion global oil and gas spending budget towards projects in Iraq.

“The company has managed an ambitious water injection programme which is helping to boost its output and make BP the third largest producer in Iraq, but the fate of this programme is now uncertain,” Rystad said in the statement.

Earlier this month, a US Department of Defense statement confirmed that the US military had killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at the direction of President Trump. The move was made “to protect US personnel abroad” according to the statement.

Following the killing, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, stated his country “will take revenge”.

Source: Rigzone