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Jiyad: Iraq’s Oil Licensing Rounds, Ten Years On

By Ahmed Mousa Jiyad.

Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq Oil Licenses Rounds – Views of the Architect and the Technocrat, Ten Years On

Petroleum licensing rounds, 2009-2010, are the most significant and impacting development that took place in post 2003 upstream petroleum and they manifest a grand opining for big push strategy.

These four bid rounds would make Iraq a game-changer with a total production plateau target of more than 12 million barrels daily (mbd) by 2017 from mostly supper giant and giant oilfields with a combined 68% of the country’s proven reserves.

Number of directly contracted international oil companies (IOCs) exceeds 15, belonging to 12 countries including the five permanent members of the UN Security council. The governing modality is a long term service contract, a uniquely hybrid type, with a duration of ca. 30 years each.

The issue, i.e., the licensing rounds, has been and still is divisive and those standing against the bid rounds personalize the debate and were persistent in their opposition to the extent that they managed to introduce legal obligations to revise them.

That concerted anti efforts succeeded in forcing the Ministry of Oil (MoO), in 2018, to premised its fifth bid round on “profit-sharing contracts, which is the monetary side of production-sharing contract; MoO was, obviously, ill-advised and badly too.

Click here to download the full report in pdf format.

Mr Jiyad is an independent development consultant, scholar and Associate with the former Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES), London. He was formerly a senior economist with the Iraq National Oil Company and Iraq’s Ministry of Oil, Chief Expert for the Council of Ministers, Director at the Ministry of Trade, and International Specialist with UN organizations in Uganda, Sudan and Jordan. He is now based in Norway (Email: mou-jiya(at)online.no, Skype ID: Ahmed Mousa Jiyad). Read more of Mr Jiyad’s biography here.

The post Jiyad: Iraq’s Oil Licensing Rounds, Ten Years On first appeared on Iraq Business News.

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Iraq Postpones Oil and Gas Auction

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has reportedly postponed its oil and gas bidding round for 11 new blocks to 25th April.

Abdul Mahdi al-Ameedi, director general of the Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD), told Reuters:

“The bidding process was rescheduled to be on April 25. It is just to give the companies a little bit more time to submit the bid bonds and be prepared for the bidding.”

However, Oil Ministry Spokesman Asim Jihad told Bloomberg he was unaware of any postponement in the auction, originally scheduled for 15th April.

Just two weeks ago, the ministry said it was changing to a new “hybrid” type of oil contract.

(Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg)

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Oil Ministry Conf on Development of 11 Exploration Zones

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil will hold a conference on Thursday 29th March to announce for a new licensing round to develop and rehabilitate 11 exploration zones on the borders of Iran and Kuwait, including one offshore zone on the Gulf.

The conference will be attended by 13 international companies which have purchased the data portfolios, in addition to two companies which intended to buy data portfolios.

These 15 companies will compete for the rights to develop and rehabilitate these exploration zones.

Assim Jihad, spokesman of the Ministry of Oil, said also that the form of the contract will be “service contract with a few modifications”.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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New Oil Licensing Round Delayed by Elections

By John Lee.

Platts reports that the final details of Iraq’s latest oilfield licensing round will not be completed by the planned date of July, due to the upcoming elections.

Abdul Mahdy Al-Ameedi, Director General of the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) told the CWC Iraq Petroleum Conference in Berlin:

“The timing may extend a bit especially as the whole project is connected with elections in April and May …

“Comments have been made by specialists in order to reorder contracts to include all the commitments and provisions I doubt that we will finish by July 5. It will take time but it will be done.“

The list of qualified companies can be found here.

(Source: Platts)

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New Oil Licensing Round Delayed by Elections

By John Lee.

Platts reports that the final details of Iraq’s latest oilfield licensing round will not be completed by the planned date of July, due to the upcoming elections.

Abdul Mahdy Al-Ameedi, Director General of the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) told the CWC Iraq Petroleum Conference in Berlin:

“The timing may extend a bit especially as the whole project is connected with elections in April and May …

“Comments have been made by specialists in order to reorder contracts to include all the commitments and provisions I doubt that we will finish by July 5. It will take time but it will be done.“

The list of qualified companies can be found here.

(Source: Platts)

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New Firms Qualified for next Oil Licensing Round

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) has announced the five additional companies have been approved to bid for Iraq’s “borderline onshore & offshore exploration blocks & fields.”

The companies are listed as:

  • Dana Gas (UAE)
  • Dragon Oil (UAE)
  • Geo-Jade Petroleum (China)
  • Schlumberger (USA)
  • Zarubezhneft (Russia)

Eight companies had applied for approval.

The five successful companies will be eligible to compete along with the following companies which are qualified from previous licensing rounds:

The areas to be offered include the onshore exploration blocks of Khudher Al-Mai, Jebel Sanam (Jabal Sanam) and Umm-Qasr on the Kuwaiti border; the Sindbad, Huwaiza, Shihabi, Zurbatia and Naft Khana blocks on the Iranian border; and the offshore exploration blocks in the Iraqi regional waters of the Arab gulf.

The bidding process should commence in May, according to the following schedule:

(Source: Oil Ministry)

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New Firms Qualified for next Oil Licensing Round

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) has announced the five additional companies have been approved to bid for Iraq’s “borderline onshore & offshore exploration blocks & fields.”

The companies are listed as:

  • Dana Gas (UAE)
  • Dragon Oil (UAE)
  • Geo-Jade Petroleum (China)
  • Schlumberger (USA)
  • Zarubezhneft (Russia)

Eight companies had applied for approval.

The five successful companies will be eligible to compete along with the following companies which are qualified from previous licensing rounds:

The areas to be offered include the onshore exploration blocks of Khudher Al-Mai, Jebel Sanam (Jabal Sanam) and Umm-Qasr on the Kuwaiti border; the Sindbad, Huwaiza, Shihabi, Zurbatia and Naft Khana blocks on the Iranian border; and the offshore exploration blocks in the Iraqi regional waters of the Arab gulf.

The bidding process should commence in May, according to the following schedule:

(Source: Oil Ministry)

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Iraq’s Fifth Licensing Round

By Alessandro Bacci.

Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Ministry of Oil has repeatedly said that it would like to renegotiate the terms of its service contracts with the international oil companies (IOCs) to link the fees the companies receive for developing the fields to the oil prices and to have them share the burden when oil prices decrease.

However, discussions between the federal government and the IOCs have been going on for the past two years with no tangible results until now. Companies affirm that they have submitted some recommendations, but then the process has not moved on.

At this point, it seems that to have a successful fifth licensing round, the federal government must produce in the coming months a new model contract (or at least an amended version of the present technical service contracts) capable of satisfying according to different price levels both the government and the IOCs.

Otherwise, it’s difficult for Iraq to reach the production target of 6 million bpd of crude oil by 2020, especially if other neighboring countries might soon offer better contractual terms.

Please click here to download the full report.

Alessandro Bacci is an independent energy consultant in relation to business strategy and corporate diplomacy (policy, government, and public affairs). Much of his activity is linked to the MENA region, an area where he lived for four years. Alessandro is now based in London, United Kingdom (www.alessandrobacci.com). A multilingual professional, Alessandro holds a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws from the University of Florence (Italy), a Master in Public Affairs from Sciences Po (France), and a Master in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore).    

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Iraq’s Fifth Licensing Round

By Alessandro Bacci.

Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Ministry of Oil has repeatedly said that it would like to renegotiate the terms of its service contracts with the international oil companies (IOCs) to link the fees the companies receive for developing the fields to the oil prices and to have them share the burden when oil prices decrease.

However, discussions between the federal government and the IOCs have been going on for the past two years with no tangible results until now. Companies affirm that they have submitted some recommendations, but then the process has not moved on.

At this point, it seems that to have a successful fifth licensing round, the federal government must produce in the coming months a new model contract (or at least an amended version of the present technical service contracts) capable of satisfying according to different price levels both the government and the IOCs.

Otherwise, it’s difficult for Iraq to reach the production target of 6 million bpd of crude oil by 2020, especially if other neighboring countries might soon offer better contractual terms.

Please click here to download the full report.

Alessandro Bacci is an independent energy consultant in relation to business strategy and corporate diplomacy (policy, government, and public affairs). Much of his activity is linked to the MENA region, an area where he lived for four years. Alessandro is now based in London, United Kingdom (www.alessandrobacci.com). A multilingual professional, Alessandro holds a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws from the University of Florence (Italy), a Master in Public Affairs from Sciences Po (France), and a Master in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore).