Aswat al-Iraq reports that a number of American, Malaysian, French and Japanese companies are interested in working in southern Iraq’s Missan Oil Company.

“The Internatoinal Oil Gas Exhibition, held in Basra Province, saw visits by dozens of foreign companies to the Missan Oil Company pavilion,” Ali Abbas al-Turfy told the news agency, adding that “more the 100 companies have offered to work in the Company’s oil, excavation, supplies and other oil services.”

Missan [Maysan] Province, center of which is Amara city, 390 km to the south of Baghdad, is one of the leading oil provinces, producing over 100k barrels per day (bpd). It includes six oil-producing fields: Bazergan, Abu-Gharb, Fakka and Halfaya, as well as the Majnoun Oil Field, that is partner of the the Southern Oil Company, along with 5 discovered but unproducing fields, including the Huweiza, al-Rafi’e, East Rafidan, Dujeila and Kumait fields.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

The Missan Oil Company expects to increase output by 20 percent to 120,000 barrels a day by the end of this year

The company’s Director General Ali Muarej told Boomberg that ten wells will be made operational at the Halfaya field south of Baghdad in the next two months to raise production.

Total, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and Petronas are developing Halfaya.

CNPC has a 50 percent share in the project, with Total and Petronas each owning 25 percent.

(Source: Bloomberg)

According to a document obtained by Reuters from Iraq’s oil ministry, Iraq’s Zubair oilfield will reach its peak output target of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by the start of 2017.

The Zubair consortium plans to invest around $18 billion to upgrade the southern Iraqi field, spending $2.8 billion in 2011, $4.9 billion in 2012, $3.9 billion in 2013 and nearly the same in 2014, and $3.1 billion in 2015

Italian oil company Eni is the lead partner with 32.81 percent, and Iraq’s Missan Oil Company holding 25 percent, Occidental Petroleum Corp 23.44 percent, and South Korea’s KOGAS 18.75 percent.

The document also showed output projections for Zubair were 300,000 bpd at end-2011, 400,000 bpd at the start of 2013, 600,000 bpd at the start of 2014, 800,000 bpd in 2015 and 1 million bpd by the start of 2016.

The group won the right to develop Zubair in 2009 following the country’s first auction of oil contracts since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The field was not initially awarded in the auction, but a deal was reached in subsequent negotiations under which the group will be paid a remuneration fee of $2 a barrel.

(Source: Reuters)

The Chairman of Southern Iraq’s Missan Energy Committee has said on Thursday that the Province’s Council had decided to sack the Director-General of Missan Oil Company from his post.

According to the report from Aswat al-Iraq, he has been accused of poor administration and failing to achieve higher oil production results during his assignment.

“Missan Province’s Council has decided in an emergency session today (Thursday) to sack the Director-General of Missan Oil Company, Engineer Ali Muarij, from his post, due to his bad administration and failure to achieve high production averages in the Province during his assignment,” Amer Nasrallah told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He said that Muarij “had violated Article 112 of the Iraqi Constitution, including necessity for coordination with the Councils of Provinces and directors of productive establishments, in order to carry out the administration of those establishments and the implementation of investments by them.”

He added that “17 out of Missan Council’s members have voted for the decision of ending the services of the said official, whilst 8 members have abstained.”

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and its partners in the southern Halfaya oilfield have awarded a $174 million contract to the China Petroleum and Engineering Corp. (CPECC) to build three crude processors, an Iraqi oil official told Reuters on Sunday.

Ali Maarij, head of Iraq’s state-run Missan Oil Company said the new plants will raise the production capacity of Halfaya field by 100,000 barrels per day.

Halfaya field currently produces around 12,000 bpd and plans to hit 20,000 bpd by the end of this year. Production of around 90,000 bpd is expected to be achieved in the first quarter of 2012, Maarij said.

(Source: Guardian)

The consortium of Chinese, Malaysian and French companies working on the Halfaya oil field, 35 km east of Amara, in Maysan [Missan] province, have completed drilling four oil wells.

Ali Altarfi, the media department of Missan Oil Company, told Aswat al-Iraq that, “the plan is to drill 300 wells in this gigantic oil field within 5 years, according to the agreement signed with the Ministry of Oil.”

The contract stipulates that production should reach 535 thousand barrels per day (bpd), which is five times higher than the local production of the field, in addition to provision of gas products to neighboring power stations.

“The reserves of this oil field are expected to reach 15 billion barrels,” Altarfi added.

The companies that won the bid to develop this field are CNPC, Total, and Petronas.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

Iraq’s Missan Oil Company has said it has formed a committee to compensate the farmers whose agricultural areas fell within the Halfaya Oil Field, east of its Amara city.

“In response to the approval of the Oil Minister and the instructions of Missan Oil Company’s Director-General, a committee was formed to carry out field inspection of the losses caused to the agricultural areas, within the limits of Halfaya Oil Field, now under development by a Chinese company, according to a contract with the Oil Ministry,” Mohammed Jabbar, chairman of the Compensations Committee, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Jabbar said that the area of the oilfield exceeded 530 square km, representing the total area for the field developed by the Chinese company, adding that 70 farmers had demanded compensation in the area.

Missan [Maysan] Province is rich in oil, producing about 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), covering six oil fields in Bazergan, Abu-Gharb, Fakka, Halfaya and Amara areas, in addition to the Majnoun Oil Field, that belongs to Missan and Basra Oil Companies, according to Aswat al-Iraq.

Missan also contains five discovered oil fields that are still unproductive, which al-Huweiza, Rafi’e, Rafidain al-Sharqi, dujeila and Kumeit.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

Oil production in Missan [Maysan] will reach 170,000 barrels per day by the end of 2011, compared to 2010’s production of 100,000 bpd, according to a director of the Missan Oil Company on Sunday.

“The 70,000 barrels increase will come from the development of  the Halfaya oil field and the drilling of new wells,” Ali Maarij told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“A Chinese company and its consortium of other companies have conducted seismological surveys, removed landmines, and set up three drilling towers in Halfaya, 35 km east of al-Amara city, in a bid to drill more wells,” he said.

The Halfaya field was awarded in Iraq’s second licensing round to CNPC (China), Petronas (Malaysia), and Total (France).

(Sources: Aswat al-Iraq, Ministry of Oil)