By Waleed Kamhieh, Accenture oil and gas consultant.
This is an extract from an article originally published by Nina Iraq, and is reproduced here with permission.
In June 2015, Iraq produced an average of 3.19 mm bbpd (million barrels per day), the highest level of production since 1980, and it has surpassed the 2.8 mm bbpd peak just before the war in 2002.
This truly remarkable accomplishment is a testament to the determination and resolve of the OPEC founding nation, investing in a better future for itself.
As a strategy consultant with Accenture’s oil & gas practice in London, and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, I have worked on case studies and investment projects in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and South East Asia. I follow the latest developments in the oil industry in several countries with great interest, including Iraq.
So, how has Iraq achieved this increased level of production over the past decade? In this research based article I am hoping to explore this in more depth as well as what can be done to sustain it.
Keeping Iraq’s #Oil Flowing http://t.co/tELJZNnR3q #Iraq
Keeping Iraq’s #Oil Flowing http://t.co/T7JbVIIUCj #Iraq
This article is full of very serious inaccuracies; knows very little about the contractual modalities concluded by the Federal government; makes unsubstantiated assertion and weak based opinion; expresses extremely simplistic political understanding; and not updated on critical issues. Moreover, the first two and fourth “sources” are all wrong: INOC was dissolved in 1987 and neither federal government nor KRG has a “Ministry of Energy”.
A paper with so many serious flaws is far from been a research based one!!
Ahmed Mousa Jiyad,
Iraq/ Development Consultancy & Research,
Norway.
31 July 2015