Iraq Still Seeking CSSF Contractor

By Simon Kent.

Iraq's Common Seawater Supply Facility, the project originally intended to supply 12 million barrels a day of treated sea water for injection to maintain pressure at oil wells, may be delayed until 2020.

Originally scheduled for 2013 after planning began in 2009, the project stalled when Exxon (who had the original contract to run it) had their work cancelled due to their involvement in the Kurdish region. Since Baghdad objected to what they considered unilateral deals between Erbil and IOCs, the project was terminated.

The project was then taken up by Iraq's South Oil Company, but has since slowed and may result in a reduction of 10% in output per year until it is finished, according to an analyst quoted in The Wall Street Journal.

Subsequently, the Iraqi govt. is seeking a new contractor to complete the project, and has offered the winning contractor access to the Ibn Omar oil field, a largely undeveloped field with an estimated 6.5 billion in reserves.

(Source: WSJ)