Shares in Afren have risen more than 5 percent since the publication of its Interim Management Statement on Thursday.

In the statement, the company gave the following update on its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan:

Barda Rash

As part of the phased development of the field, Afren initiated production operations in August 2012 producing its first cargo of sales specification oil to tank. Initial storage capacity limits during the early phases of start-up at the field led the Group to restrict flow-to-tank from the well. To date, approximately 18,800 barrels is held in storage at the field and first sales are expected shortly.

Afren has commenced Phase 2 operations on the field which will involve new wells to increase production capacity, evaluate new field areas and acquire modern log and core data to better understand and delineate the field. The Partners commenced drilling on the BR-5 well in March 2013 using the Romfor-23 drilling rig which is currently drilling ahead at around 6,200 ft. The BR-4 well will be drilled using the Viking I-10 rig and is expected to spud in May 2013. The wells will be drilled to test the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs identified in the previous wells drilled on the structure.

Ain Sifni

Testing of the Simrit-2 well is now complete with aggregate flow rates of 19,641 bopd achieved from the planned Drill Stem Test (DST) programme. The well is currently being completed for an Extended Well Test (EWT) in the Jurassic age, Mus/Adaiyah reservoirs. Produced crude is expected to be trucked to local markets.

By John Lee.

PhotoSat has announced the completion of its satellite topography mapping of WesternZagros‘s Garmian Block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, using stereo satellite photos from the high-resolution Pleiades 1A and 1B imaging satellites.

Pleiades 1A and 1B are the world’s newest 50cm resolution satellites. The satellite topography mapping consists of an elevation point every meter and contours with 1 meter elevation intervals.

Based on comparisons between the satellite topographic mapping and thousands of ground survey points on similar projects, the accuracy of the satellite topographic mapping is expected to be about 30 centimeters.

The topographic mapping and precision satellite ortho photos will be used for planning and execution of 3D seismic surveys, planning and construction of well sites and well site access roads, field development, and pipeline engineering studies.

PhotoSat president Gerry Mitchell (pictured) commented:

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to apply our cutting-edge satellite topographic mapping technology and the world’s newest high resolution satellites to advance WesternZagros’s Garmian Block in the Kurdistan Region.

“Exploration and development success on the Garmian Block will provide significant economic benefits to WesternZagros shareholders as well as to the people of the Kurdistan Region.“

(Source: PhotoSat)

(Picture: PhotoSat image from Utah, US)

By John Lee.

Shares in ShaMaran Petroleum were down as much as 6 percent this morning following the announced of its financial and operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2013. (Unless otherwise stated all currency amounts indicated as “$” in this news release are expressed in thousands of United States dollars).

Highlights

• A Field Development Plan for the Atrush Block was submitted for approval to the KRG on May 7, 2013 which is in accordance with the terms of the Atrush Block PSC.
• The Atrush-3 appraisal well, located five kilometers to the east of the Atrush-2 appraisal well, was spudded on March 25, 2013 with a planned total depth of 1,700 meters.
• The Company announced on February 4, 2013 an increase of 35% in Best Estimate 2C Contingent Resources (gross) for the Atrush Block, from 465.6 MMBOE at December 31, 2011 to 627.3 MMBOE at the end of 2012. The estimates were provided by the Company’s independent qualified resources evaluator, McDaniel & Associates Consultants Ltd., in a Detailed Property Report prepared as at December 31, 2012.
• On March 12, 2013 the Contractor entities to the Atrush Block PSC were notified by the Kurdistan regional Government (“KRG”) that it had exercised its option to acquire a 25% Government Interest in accordance with the provisions of the Atrush Block PSC.
• At March 31, 2013 the Company had a cash balance of $35.3 million and working capital of $26.7 million.

Financial and Operating Results for the three months ended March 31st, 2013

During the three months ended March 31, 2013 the Company continued its appraisal and development campaign in respect of the Atrush petroleum property located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq which constitutes the continuing operations of the Company. Atrush currently generates no revenues. The net loss in the quarter principally relates to the general and administrative expenses incurred in respect of the continuing operations of the Company.

Iraqis came together on Sunday to agree on their country’s most pressing needs, and send a message to the international community on what issues should be prioritised after 2015.

With only two years remaining before the deadline of the Millennium Declaration Goals (MDGs), the UN is consulting with a wide range of Iraqi civil society, persons living with disabilities, academia, women and youth groups to add their voices to the global conversation on what issues the international community should prioritise beyond 2015.

“The importance of making this a civil society-led process cannot be understated,” explained Jacqueline Badcock, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Iraq. “The concerns of the most vulnerable, persons living with disabilities, women and youth are often drowned out. This series of consultations has ensured the voiceless are given a voice.”

The MDGs were established in 2000 to respond to the world’s greatest development challenges. They set concrete targets around which global efforts could be mobilised. Despite an increase in the level of income in Iraq, significant improvements are needed to address the needs of vulnerable groups including unemployment, gender-equality, food-security and environmental sustainability.

Iraq’s Minister of Planning, Dr. Ali Shukri, noted “We have made excellent progress in mapping and measuring progress related to the MDGs in Iraq. We look forward to working with our partners in the UN Development Programme to continue strengthening Iraq’s ability to track progress and identify where more work needs to be done.”

The UN designed the consultation process in Iraq to specifically hear from those who have traditionally been excluded from or underrepresented in the development process. Agreeing on priorities for a new global development agenda must be based on an open, inclusive, transparent process hearing from private individuals, to complement on-going inter-governmental discussions.

Civil society groups made the process possible by reviewing and validating recommendations from consultations held in Basrah, Baghdad and Erbil, on employment generation, political inclusion, access to basic services, and the management of natural resources.

(Source: UNAMI)

By Daoud al-Ali.

This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The results of Iraq’s provincial elections are in – and they are far from conclusive. While the ruling State of Law bloc still leads, it’s clearly not as popular as it was. And various alliances are being built to challenge it further.

The initial results of Iraq’s recent provincial elections were announced by the country’s Independent High Electoral Commission or IHEC, the body responsible for conducting and overseeing the elections, on May 4.

And while the actual voting involved a fairly lacklustre polling day it seems the results may make for more interesting politics as major parties must seek coalition partners for local government.

The results have yet to be finalized as various appeals have yet to be heard. But it seems clear that there will some changes ahead in provincial government. Provincial authorities are influential in their own areas, having some control over security, economic development – and thereby, jobs – and how federal funds are used.

The election results indicate a shift in the balance of power in Iraqi politics, local political analyst, Ihsan al-Shammari, a lecturer at Baghdad University, told NIQASH. Al-Shammari thought that the provincial elections could also be seen as an indicator of how the country will vote in the next federal elections, due in 2014. “In these elections, the battles to build coalitions will be fiercer than the electoral campaigns,” he said.

While the coalition led by Iraq’s current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki still retained its lead in provincial government in seven of the 12 states where elections were held, it also lost a lot: about a third of the seats it had had after the 2009 provincial elections. All up, al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc got 97 seats in provincial government but it didn’t achieve an absolute majority in any one province. A lot of those losses came from the Prime Minister’s own Dawa party. And the losses came despite al-Maliki’s alliances with various influential Shiite Muslim parties such as the Badr organization.

With the aim to highlight the different aspects of the relationship between media and women’s rights in Iraq, the United Nations in Iraq organized a roundtable discussion attended by international and national stakeholders, the first platform of its kind towards empowering women in and through the Iraqi media.

This was part of this year’s World Press Freedom Day events. The roundtable, organized by UNAMI, UN Women and UNESCO, was held on Wednesday 1 May in the UN compound in Baghdad under the theme “The role of the Media in Advancing Women’s Rights in Iraq”.

The roundtable brought together media professionals as well as representatives of the Iraqi Independent Human Rights Commission, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), NGOs, media syndicates, the Iraqi human rights defenders federation and international partners.

The key subject of the discussions was the role of Iraqi media in promoting women’s rights and gender equality nationwide. Another hot topic was the promotion of a greater participation of women in the media particularly at the decision-making levels, with a view to strengthen women’s political participation through media.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Mr. Martin Kobler, strongly encouraged women in general and women in media to speak more forcefully about the promotion, protection and respects of human rights for all. “Where were the women in the elections? Where were the women in the Hawija events?” he asked, emphasizing the importance of women’s voices to be heard in all matters that touch upon their future and the future of their children.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has hosted a meeting with the Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq, Martin Kobler.

During the meeting, they discussed the role of the UN Mission in the provincial elections that took place recently, and its implications for political developments.

Kobler briefed the Minister on the results of his meetings with a number of parties of the political process and the country’s need for a mechanism to launch a national dialogue to address pending issues.

They also discussed the development of Iraqi – Kuwaiti relations especially the technical measures for demarcation of the borders.

For his part, the Minister stressed the importance of the UN role to exit Iraq from the remaining provisions of Chapter VII.

The meeting was attended by Undersecretary for Administrative Affairs, Adviser of the Minister, and Head of the Organizations Department.

(Source: MoFA)

By Ahmed Mousa Jiyad.

Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq’s Petroleum Upstream Development
and the Challenges of Managing the Plenty

Extended Abstract based on PowerPoint presentation delivered before the Natural Resource Charter -NRC Annual Conference “Investing Natural Resource Wealth for Sustainable Prosperity” hosted by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development-AFSED, held in Kuwait on 6-7 May 2013.

Acknowledgement: I am thankful to Professor Paul Collier, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Member of NRC Technical Advisory Group and to Mr Abdulatif Al-Hamad, Chairman, AFESD, Member of NRC Oversight Board for their kind joint invitation, and to their competent staff for profoundly helping with the logistics of my participation.

The contents of my presentation are my own responsibility as independent consultant and scholar and thus do not represent the views and positions of NRC, AFESD or any Iraqi entity.

Since November 2008 Iraq upstream petroleum sub-sector witnessed many serious, unprecedented but interrelated developments: A grand opening to foreign investment; formulation of a new hybrid basic model for long term service contracts; offer the most prized petroleum fields in a short period of time; concluding many contracts through four bid rounds, and more under consideration; formal willingness for transparency measures and compliance to known international standard (EITI); and finally the formulation and adoption of the first ever Integrated National Energy Strategy-INES (Slide nr.3).

The Iraqi case present serious management of the plenty in every aspects: massive development efforts; require massive capital investment; generating massive influx of revenues, some of which will be earmarked for massive payments to the IOCs for cost recovery and remuneration fees, while the rest would finance massive state annual budgets; thus generating massive consequences on main macroeconomics parameters and sustainable development in the country.

Successful or otherwise the Iraqi case would have serious ramifications for the political economy of relationships between host governments and IOCs, and thus entails constant monitoring and professional objective and independent analysis.

Contractually, the concluded deals would uplift oil production capacity to an unprecedented level at unusual short pace. However, professional debate and different studies appeared to have impacted the official view to endorse lower, more feasible and realistic targets. This is expressed by three options comprising deferent plateau targets and time horizons that were considered by the recently finalised Integrated National Energy Strategy (INES).