According to a report from Bloomberg, Iraq plans to increase its exports of Kirkuk crude from the Turkish port of Ceyhan (pictured) by 20 percent in April:

• 24 cargoes to be shipped, up from 21 in March;
• shipping rate of 510,000 barrels a day, up from 425,484 bpd in March.

Shipments of Iraqi Kirkuk crude from Ceyhan were halted nine times since the end of November because of technical reasons, bad weather or explosions, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said in a statement.

As a result, exports from the port were less than scheduled:

• January: 17 cargoes of the crude totaling 387,677 bpd shipped versus a planned 447,742 bpd;
• February: 369,447 bpd compared with 448,276 bpd planned.

(Sources: Bloomberg, AKnews)

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has issued the follow statement on the reported granting of a contract to BP for the development of oilfields in Kirkuk:

Neither Iraq’s federal oil ministry nor state-owned oil companies have the right to unilaterally award contracts to develop currently producing fields in Kirkuk province or in other adjacent areas, Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources said today.

Management of oil and gas in Iraq does not fall under the exclusive powers of the federal government, the ministry said, adding, “Article 112 of Iraq’s Constitution states that the federal government and the regional and producing governorates shall together manage the present producing oil fields.”

The term ‘present producing fields’ in article 112 means the fields already under production at the time Iraq’s permanent Constitution was approved in 2005.

The ministry said, “However, article 115 provides the exclusive right to the regions and governorates to manage all future fields — that is, the undeveloped discoveries and unexplored structures.”

It said the KRG agrees that “in both cases – that is, present and future fields – the net revenue derived from the exploitation of any of the oil and gas resources belongs to all Iraqi people and as such is required to be distributed in a fair manner in proportion to the population”.

The Ministry of Natural Resources’ comments followed reports that the state-owned North Oil Company had signed or was about to sign a preliminary agreement with BP to increase production at the Kirkuk field.

AKnews reports on Saturday that Iraq’s state-owned North Oil Company has signed a preliminary agreement with BP to increase production at the Kirkuk oilfield from about 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 580,000 bpd.

Hussein Allam, the undersecretary of North Oil Company said:

“The initial agreement is part of a high-level plan carried out by the Oil Ministry through the Northern Oil Company to develop the production of the northern fields through a partnership contract signed with BP.“

The Kurdistan Region opposes any oil contract to develop oil fields located within the borders of Kirkuk province and other areas in which ownership is disputed between Baghdad and Erbil.

(Source: AKnews)

Baker Hughes has joined BP and Schlumberger on separate talks with Iraq to more than double the output from the giant Kirkuk oil field in northern Iraq, according to Dow Jones.

“Iraq is conducting preliminary talks with these three companies to examine plans to develop the field,” an Iraqi oil industry figure said on Monday.

Iraq is aiming to sign a 5-10 year deal with one of these firms to bring output from the field from roughly 280,000 barrels a day currently to 600,000-700,000 bpd over the next five years.

(Source: Dow Jones, Reuters)

Oil giant BP is reported to be in talks with Iraq to boost output from the Kirkuk oilfield in the north of the country.

Bloomberg, citing sources at the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), says BP officials will meet with Iraq’s North Oil Company (NOC) within weeks to discuss increasing capacity at Kirkuk from about 260,000 barrels per day (bpd) to as much as 700,000 bpd over the next five years.

Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Al- Luaibi [Elaibi], met with BP executives in London on 22nd February after the company expressed an interest in the field.

“We envisage BP doing something similar to Rumaila at Kirkuk,” said an Iraqi oil executive. He was referring to a $30 billion BP-operated project to develop Iraq’s biggest oilfield, located in southern Iraq.

Reuters reports that production at the 77-year old field had been as high as 900,000 bpd in 2001 after years of injecting water and dumping unwanted crude and products into the field.

But the UK oil major downplayed the possibility of taking on a mega-project at Kirkuk.

“We are not aware of any proposals for the development of Kirkuk or any other fields,” a BP spokesman told Reuters. “We would of course consider opportunities for further investment in Iraq as we would opportunities elsewhere in the world.”

The problems at Kirkuk forced the NOC to issue a tender late last year to rehabilitate the ageing field, but industry sources say the process went nowhere.

Iraq put Kirkuk on the block in its first postwar oil auction in 2009. A consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell offered to boost flows to 825,000 b/d for a fee of $7.89 a barrel, but Baghdad insisted on payment of $2 a barrel.

(Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg)

The first international trade fair has been opened in the city of Kirkuk, north east of Baghdad, with dozens of foreign companies participating, according to AKnews.

The three-day fair that was opened by Kirkuk governor Najmaddin Karim on Tuesday brought together about 100 foreign and local companies.

Kamil Salayi, mayor of Kirkuk, told AKnews that “This is really exciting to see an international fair in Kirkuk. We will try to have another one, but bigger, in the next couple of years.”

The multi-ethnic oil-rich city of Kirkuk (pictured) has been one of the more unstable areas of Iraq.

(Source: AKnews)

A member of Kirkuk Provincial Council has announced that there new power plants will soon be installed in the province.

Fuad Hussein said the decision was made after the deputy electricity minister met the Council.

An Iranian company will install two 196MW plants in Dubiz district, while a South Korean company will install the other 293MW plant in Taza district. The total cost of the is estimated at $160 millio.

(Source: AKnews)

The foundation stone of a five star hotel and shopping center was laid in Kirkuk on Wednesday, according to AKnews.

The mall and hotel,  the first project of its kind in the city, will cost $31.58m (36.8 billion Iraqi dinars).

Construction will take over three years and will be undertaken by the Rekani company, based in Kurdistan, and several Turkish companies.

(Source: AKnews)