Zig’s Place Chatroom News Late Tuesday PM 7-13-21
Zig’s Place Chatroom News Late Tuesday PM 7-13-21
Zig: Welcome to zig's place, a chat room for dinar speculators and others....discuss any topic that you wish here
butterfly In addition to Chines and Russian IOCs Japanese companies increased their presence as well: Japex (Gharraf oilfield); INPEX (Exploration Block 10/Eridu oilfield) and Itochu bought entire Shell' PI (20%) in WQ1.
Against the consolidation of the Chines, Russian and Japanese companies, other IOCs lost or weakened their presence in upstream petroleum; these include Big Oil- as ExxonMobil, Shell and Oxy and medium-small size companies such as Petronas, Kogas, Kuwait Energy, TPAO.
Occidental Petroleum relinquished, in 2016, its PI in Zubair oilfield to South Oil Company (now Basra Oil Company), due to its decision pulling out from projects in the Middle East for financial reasons.
ExxonMobil demise began almost ten years ago soon after it had attained significant consolidation; a demise of its own making!! Apart from the contribution of the Iraqi factors ExxonMobil faced and facing many other challenges that exacerbate its decision to abandon Iraq.
These include restructuring its international profile; energy transition (away from fossil-based to renewable-energy) environmentally-conscious; shareholder revolts, expulsion of ExxonMobil representative from EITI'MSG due to position regarding Dobb-Franck issue and the forthcoming SEC environmental compliance rules.
Royal Shell story is not very different from that of ExxonMobil. Shell launched initially a powerful strategic positioning, resisted the temptation of engaging with KRG petroleum and diversified its portfolio in oil, gas and petrochemical projects.
Now it has much weakened role; withdrew from Majnoon oilfield, sold its PI in WQ1, rumors that it contemplate leaving Basra Gas Compan- BGC , whose HoA was signed in 2008 but it did not deliver the contracted target, and Nibras petrochemical project, with MIM & MoO, draggeed for too many years without any prospect.
butterfly Again, Shell decision to leave WQ1 and Majnoon oilfields and possibly BGC was not entirely due to contractual and working conditions in Iraq; one possible explanation relates to Shell' overall plan to restructure its global business, following its takeover of British Gas Group- BGG. Also Shell faces legal action; A Dutch court ruled, recently, that Shell will have to reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent from 2019 levels by 2030.
BP has only one engagement- Rumaila oilfield, with almost equal PI with CNPC (while during the June 2009 bidding round BP' PI was double that of CNPC). Recently, BP decided to spin off its involvement in Rumaila into a stand-alone company, a "ring fencing practice", for reasons relating to diverting its global assets and investment plans. Though this move is more structural and organizational in nature that has, contractually, no effect on Iraq, it, nevertheless, could indicate possible departure from Rumaila sooner or later.
Total, rebranded TotalEnergies, have very modest PI in only one oilfield- Halfaya, is trying a comeback to Iraq through concluding HoA comprising four major projects, three of which are part of SIIP that Iraq wasted too many years discussing with ExxonMobil!!
Surely, IOCs strategic positioning has significant implications for petroleum sector and the prospect of the entire economy. There has been a tendency for some to be highly selective by focusing only on one Iraqi based, real reason, such as harsh contractual terms; type of contracts; corruption, resource mismanagement and security conditions among others. While all these are real and effective, they are absolutely not the only factors behind IOCs shift and change of priorities as there is a complex wed that one should be aware of; 20 IOCs have recently warned for tax violation and IOCs that lost their strategic positioning inside Iraqi petroleum had themselves contributed to that outcome.
butterfly Moreover, global energy/green transition and international geopolitics have powerful ramifications though the debate is, as usual, not conclusive. While IEA recent report could have effective impact, REN21 new report raises doubt; and such wide divergence suggests oil remains needed much longer than some thinks.
Click here to download the full report in pdf format. https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/IOCs-strategic-positioning-in-Iraq-upstream-petroleum.pdf
butterfly Assignment of the large Al-Faw refinery and the construction of a petrochemical complex to a Chinese company
Tuesday 13 July 2021 21:23..........The Ministry of Oil announced the assignment of the large Al-Faw investment refinery and the construction of the strategic Al-Faw petrochemical complex to the Chinese state-owned CNCEC Company.
Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar said, according to a ministry statement: "This project is the largest investment project in the oil industry, and a quantum leap in the refining sector and petrochemical industries."
butterfly Oil prices rise and gains
Tuesday 13 July 2021 22:40............Oil prices increased their gains, today, Tuesday, as Brent crude contracts rose more than one dollar to reach $76.28 a barrel.
This rise came after the International Energy Agency warned earlier today that "oil markets will witness a great shortage if the OPEC + impasse continues, and if production quotas remain at July levels."
And the agency indicated that "stalled talks between major oil producers about pumping more supplies may deteriorate, turning into a price war, at a time when vaccines against the Corona virus launch a rise in crude demand."
And the International Energy Agency pointed out that “the possibility of a battle for market share, even if remote, threatens markets, as well as the possibility of higher fuel prices threatening to fuel inflation and damage a fragile economic recovery.”
butterfly Dana Gas Company resumes production of feed gas for power plants in the Kurdistan region
Tuesday 13 July 2021 23:48 .........The Ministry of Electricity in the Kurdistan Regional Government announced the treatment of the technical malfunction that occurred in the Dana Gas Company, which led to the suspension of all units of natural gas production that feed power plants in the region.
A statement by the ministry stated, "The technical malfunction that occurred in the Dana Gas Company has been fixed," noting that "with the arrival of natural gas to the generation stations, the electricity conditions have returned to normal."
butterfly Al-Abadi: The ambassadors’ deal was produced by a “distasteful quota”
Tuesday 13 July 2021 23:04 .........The head of the / victory / Haider Al-Abadi coalition called on the parliament to stop voting on the ambassadors deal, which he described as "produced by abhorrent quotas."
Al-Abadi said in a tweet on Twitter: "I call on the House of Representatives to respect the feelings of citizens by declaring mourning for the victims of Dhi Qar and to stop voting on the ambassadors deal, which was produced by a despicable quota, with all due respect to the candidates for these sites."
And he added: "It is also necessary to observe the standards of professionalism in the candidates, and to stay away from the standards of partisanship and kinship. We do not provoke the feelings of citizens."
butterfly A ministerial meeting to discuss the implementation of the Makhoul Dam and the protection of archaeological areas
Tuesday 13 July 2021 23:37......The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities held today, Tuesday, a ministerial meeting to discuss the ongoing work to implement the Makhoul Dam and protect the archaeological areas in the vicinity of the dam reservoir.
The media office of the Ministry of Culture stated, in a statement, that "a joint ministerial meeting was held in the building of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, which included the Ministers of Water Resources, Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, and Culture Hassan Nazim, the Undersecretary of Education for Scientific Affairs, and the Secretary-General of the Iraqi National Committee for Education, Culture and Science."
The statement added, "The meeting was devoted to discussing the ongoing work to implement the Makhoul Dam and to come up with a unified vision on protecting the archaeological areas in the vicinity of the dam reservoir."
butterfly The Minister of Water Resources said, during the meeting, according to the statement, that "the ministry has developed detailed designs to protect the ancient Ashur Citadel and considered it among the priorities of its work and made financial allocations within the cost of the project."
He added, "The protection measures include the construction of a dam to protect and preserve the castle from erosion and make it a tourist place frequented by visitors, as well as allocating sufficient funds to carry out an intensive campaign for excavations in the reservoir basin."
He stressed "the importance of constructing dams and reservoirs to achieve water and food security, preserve the environment of the marshes, and benefit from storage in times of scarcity to secure the need for water for all uses."
For his part, the Minister of Culture affirmed, "Working in the spirit of one team is to serve the interest of the people of Iraq, with sufficient food and national security and the preservation of its heritage."
Sandyf @Zig "Iraq seeks to join the World Trade Organization - Iraq has been trying to join the WTO since 2004. One of biggest obstacles is the differences between Iraq and the Kurds over border policies. The WTO sees Iraq as a single entity not two, until there is a unified policy in Iraq, I wouldn't hold my breath on them getting membership anytime soon.
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