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Schlumberger's incoming CEO, Paal Kibsgaard, has big plans for the company's business in Iraq.

The 43-year-old Norwegian, who will take over as chief executive on 1st August, is currently Chief Operating Officer of the company, having begun his career with ExxonMobil in 1992.

He will succeed Andrew Gould, who again reiterated that Iraq is a key factor in the improving international outlook.

Just weeks ago, Gould announced that "next year Iraq will be really big".

Asked about Iraq, where many oil firms have found it hard to establish a foothold, Kibsgaard said it is likely to be Schlumberger's seventh biggest out of 14 markets in the Middle East and Asia, before improving to No. 3 next year.

Schlumberger was recently chosen to develop Gazprom Neft's Badra oilfield.

(Source: Bloomberg)

The fifth annual Iraq Petroleum conference took place at the Landmark Hotel, London on the on the 12-14 July 2011, focusing on the next phase of Iraq’s oil and gas resource development as well as current and future upstream opportunities.

As Rt Lord Howell of Guildford, Minister of State for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated during the opening session of Iraq Petroleum 2011. “Iraq has the world’s third largest proven oil reserves. Iraq is the only country, besides Saudi Arabia, with the potential to massively increase conventional oil production. It currently produces nearly 3 million barrels per day and the government has ambitious plans to increase production to 12 million barrels over the next decade”

The conference brought together a global network of over 300 senior level professionals from 29 countries in over 15 sectors of the oil and gas industry and provided a meeting place for industry experts, connecting delegates and new players in the Iraqi oil and gas marketplace.

The conference highlighted the tremendous potential for opportunities and the need for international expertise in the development of Iraq’s oil and gas industry. With the conference room full until the end of the last session, delegates showed enthusiasm in discussing the future opportunities in the industry.

H.E Ali Al Dabagh assured the conference that the Iraqi Government shall be the guarantor of all contracts that were awarded to the IOCs and shall support their efforts and cooperate with them through their respective JMCs to ensure that they succeed and achieve the objectives of each contract and to pay them back their investments and profits as and when they become due in accordance with the terms of their respective contracts.

Industry support for the conference included Upstream Principal Sponsor: Crescent Petroleum, Service Principal Sponsor: Baker Hughes and conference sponsors ExxonMobil, Statoil, Shell, Total, Oxy, ENI, Jawar Al Khaleej Shipping L.L.C, Oil Serv, Huawei, IAG, Olive Group, Mott MacDonald, Mubadala, Standard Chartered, Technology Partners, SKA Group, and OIEC.

For further information visit: http://www.cwciraqpetroleum.com/

British oil exploration data group Getech told the Yorkshire Post on Monday that sales from its Iraq service had risen to over $750,000 since December.

The Leeds-based firm said it had received an order for more than $500,000 and its full reprocessed and integrated data sets have been available for general sale to the oil industry since the end of June.

The company, which was spun out of the University of Leeds, sells complex geological and geophysical data to help oil companies including Shell, BP and ExxonMobil decide where to sink new wells.

Based in Leeds, England, the company has grown to more than 40 staff, of whom in excess of 35 are technical, having specialist skills covering a wide range of geoscience disciplines. It also has a subsidiary in Houston, Texas which operates primarily as a marketing entity.

The Company originated as a spin-out from the University of Leeds, and since it started trading in 1986 has acquired the largest commercially available library of global gravity and magnetic data – it currently has data from almost every country in the world.

In December it announced it had signed an exclusive marketing agreement in Erbil with the Geological Survey of Iraq. Iraq is reported to have the fourth largest oil reserves in the world.

Professor Derek Fairhead, president and founder of Getech, said:

“The agreements that were signed in December 2010 took Getech more than give years to complete. We believe the immediate interest in these data and subsequent confirmed sales reflect the strong international interest both in oil exploration in Iraq and in the data we are able to provide. Thus we have grounds to believe that there will be substantial revenue generated from these data in the coming months.”

(Sources: Yorkshire Post, Getech)

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International oil and gas companies from 70 countries together with key Iraqi oil and gas industry experts will be gathering at the Landmark Hotel, London from 12-14 July for the latest edition of CWC Iraq Petroleum conference.

The event will focus on the next phase of developing Iraq’s oil and gas resources as well as the current and future upstream opportunities.

Conference Producer and Project Manager Nawar Abdulhadi commented:

“With Iraq seeking increasing support from international oil, gas and service companies for its economic development, Iraq Petroleum 2011 will provide the largest gathering of over 300 senior level executives and industry experts from over 90 companies worldwide, providing the ideal forum for networking and building relationships.”

The conference programme will look at the latest developments from an exclusive line-up of government and industry experts including H.E. Thamir Ghadhban, Chairman of the Advisory Commission to the PM of Iraq, H.E Ali Al Dabagh, Minister of State, Iraqi Government Spokesman, and many other government figures. On the other side, the Iraqi Parliament will be represented by H.E. Haider Al Abadi and Dr Adnan Al Jananbi and many other key Iraqi oil industry representatives will take part at the event.

A post conference workshop will follow the main programme, with Clyde & Co organising a negotiator roundtable discussion focusing on Iraq’s oil and gas contracts. This one day interactive workshop will update investors on the upcoming fourth bid round, the right joint ventures and will take delegates through a step by step guide on forming joint ventures and managing the after contract signature challenges.

Industry support for the conference is massive. Sponsors include:

• Upstream Principle Sponsor: Crescent Petroleum;
• Service Principal Sponsor: Baker Hughes; and,
• Conference Sponsors: ExxonMobil, Statoil, Shell, Total, Occidental, ENI, Jawar Al Khaleej Shipping L.L.C, Oil Serv, Huawei, IAG, Olive Group, Mott MacDonald, Mubadala, Standard Chartered, Technology Partners, SKA Group, and OIEC.

For further information visit: http://www.cwciraqpetroleum.com/

Iraq will be one of the main revenue contributors to Schlumberger's Middle East operations and will be bigger than most of the company's other markets in the region with the exception of Saudi Arabia, Chief Executive Andrew Gould (pictured) told the Financial Times on Tuesday.

"Next year Iraq will be really big", said Gould.

The company has five rigs actively drilling, for BP and ExxonMobil among others, and will have 10 in operation by early next year. It has 450 employees on the ground and expects the number to rise to 900 by the end of the year.

(Source: Financial Times)

Output at the West Qurna oil field in Basra has increased by 26% since March, reaching 347,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to AKnews.

Madi Abdul-Razzaq, director of the operations committee said: "We have a number of new projects to increase production to 400,000 bpd by the end of 2011. The increased production in West Qurna is a result of drilling new wells and rehabilitating old ones."

"The project’s management has ordered the drilling of dozens of new wells in the near future."

The Southern Oil Company announced earlier that the increased production at West Qurna will increase the size of the annual financial allocation of Basra province by $100,000 a day.

ExxonMobil and Shell have the contract to develop the West Qurna field.

West Qurna oil field is about 110 km north of Basra, and it is the largest oil field in Iraq. Oil was first extracted from it in 1973, and according to the estimates of experts it contains oil reserves of 24 billion barrels.

(Source: AKnews)

As widely reported, anticipation is building around the current preparation by the Iraqi Government for the auction of oil and gas exploration in January 2012. The auction will tender 12 exploration blocs covering 31,500 square miles and will be awarded to international companies interested in investing in the region.

With Iraq seeking increasing support from international oil, gas and service companies for its economic development, CWC is hosting its fifth annual Iraq Petroleum conference in London with a view to bringing together the key decision makers in this important industry.

Iraq Petroleum will take place between 12-14 July and will be a platform designed to help companies plan their strategy and develop a full understanding of the types of upstream contracts available for development. The conference will also focus on Kurdistan’s natural resources as the region’s additional capacity comes on stream.

The conference brings together government and industry experts, providing a forum to explore Iraq’s resource and business potential. Key Iraqi Government officials supporting Iraq Petroleum 2011 include H.E. Thamir Ghadhban, Chairman of the Advisory Commission to the PM of Iraq; H.E Ali Al Dabagh, Minister of State, Iraqi Government Spokesman; H.E. Haider Al Abadi; Dr. Adnan Al Jananbi and many other international government figures will be presenting as well as answering key questions.

Other senior industry experts include Mounir Bouaziz, Vice President Commercial, MENA NBD & LNG, Shell; Einar Erfjord, Country Manager Iraq, Statoil offering an industry perspective.

Iraq Petroleum 2011 is represented by industry support from Upstream Principle  Sponsor: Crescent Petroleum, Service Principle Sponsor: Baker Hughes, and conference sponsors ExxonMobil, Statoil, Total, OXY, Oil Serv, IAG, Huawei, Oilve Group, Mott MacDonald, Mubadala, Standard Chartered, Technology Partners and SKA.
Further information is available via http://www.cwciraqpetroleum.com

Iraq's Ministry of Oil stressed that it is cooperating with international companies to sell crude oil, pointing that Iraq is the only country that exports its crude oil to more than 25 international companies.

On the sidelines of a forum held by SOMO over Iraq’s oil exports mechanisms the director of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), Falah al-Ameri, told Alsumaria News that Iraq is selling its oil to international companies involved in extraction and refining, such as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell.

The second kind of companies Iraq is dealing with are the smaller independent international companies, and other refining companies such as Valero from the US and IOC in India.

During the first 10 days of each month SOMO holds meetings in order to follow-up international oil market indicators in order to set the prices for the month to come which is fixed according to the international demand for Iraqi oil, which contains sulfur, in the current month and next month.

Iraq's crude oil, the majority of which is produced in and around Basra, contains 2.2% sulfur and the demand for it is higher during winter as it contains white oil and gasoline while the light oil produced in Dubai and west Texas and Europe is mainly used to extract benzene.

(Source: Alsumaria News)

International oil services firm Schlumberger has won a contract from a consortium led by US oil major ExxonMobil to drill 15 new wells in Iraq's West Qurna Phase One oilfield, Reuters has reported, citing an industry source familiar with the matter.

Ame Info reports that the new wells are part of the consortium's plan to rehabilitate the oil field, for which it signed a 20-year development contract with Iraq last year. Currently, output at West Qurna Phase One stands at around 340,000 barrels per day, the source said.

(Source: AME Info)

Following the announcement by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil that 12 exploration blocs, including the first sea exploration bloc, will be tendered in next year’s auction and alongside the current influx of hundreds of companies to Iraq, the development of its oil and gas industries look set to continue.

The latest edition of CWC’s Iraq Petroleum conference in July, therefore, will focus on the upstream opportunities and the next phase of development of this activity.

Abd Al‐Karim Laibi [Luaibi, Elaibi], Iraq’s Federal Minister of Oil recently commented “Iraq expects more than double the oil production capacity over the next four years.”

Iraq Petroleum 2011 features a post conference workshop, with Clyde & Co organising a negotiator roundtable discussion focusing on Iraq’s oil and gas contracts. This one day interactive workshop will update investors on the upcoming fourth bid round, the right joint ventures and will take delegates through a step by step guide on forming joint ventures and managing the after contract signature challenges.

Conference sponsors to date include upstream principle sponsor Baker Hughes, service principle sponsors Crescent Petroleum, and conference sponsors ExxonMobil, Statoil, Total, OXY, Oil Serv, IAG, Huawei, Oilve Group, Mott MacDonald, Standard Chartered, Technology Partners and SKA.