Decades of conflict and years of battling the Islamic State has left much of Iraq’s infrastructure in pieces. This, coupled with corruption and poor security have hindered development projects in the country, leaving it dependent on external investment to regenerate a once prosperous economy.
As the end of 2017 saw the country liberated from Islamic State, 2018 must deal with the aftermath of three years of heavy combat. The formal declaration of its fight against Islamic State triggered a rush of international interest to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure, one oil refinery at a time.
Most recently, freight oil company, Total, has reportedly expressed its interest in bidding to build the greenfield Nasiriyah oil refinery in Iraq, which could produce 150,000 barrels per day.
Sources told Reuters that bids are still open for the project and international oil companies, including Total, are interested in the project. Last year, the Iraqi oil ministry said Petrochina was also interested in the refinery project, which was originally envisioned with a 300,000 barrels per day capacity that would be integrated with development of the Nassirya oilfield.
Director General of Iraq’s Dhi Qar Oil Co Ali Warid Hammood told Reuters that the company had now taken on the development of the field by itself.
The field is currently producing 80,000-100,000 barrels per day and the company plans to double production capacity to 200,000 barrels per day within the next three years. Production levels are expected to remain stable this year.
In October last year, Iraq’s oil ministry said that PetroChina was interested in building the Nassiriya refinery. While, in the past, Russia’s Lukoil has also been mentioned as a possible contender for the Nassiriya refinery and oil field in a project that has been long delayed by Iraq.
Total currently has a 22.5% interest in the consortium that operates the Halfaya oil field in the Missan province in southern Iraq. It also markets lubricants in the country through local retailers.
For more information, visit: www.total.com and www.pcldiraq.com
2nd Mar 2018
