Introduction
This handbook is directed towards the International Oil Companies, IOCs, who are contemplating investment in a future Iraq, post-Saddam. The approach is to describe the investment opportunities likely to become available in the upstream in the quite near future as a renewed Iraq gets back on its feet. It will describe the downstream work which will be needed before the upstream sector will be able to take advantage of the available opportunities. This downstream work will include the rehabilitation needed on pipelines particularly but also on export terminals. Much engineering work will also be needed on tank farms, refineries etc. so that the Iraqi market can be supplied with much-needed petrol, diesel and paraffin for local domestic use. Oil well fires will need to be extinguished.
Despite the opportunities described here the oil companies should be aware that the primary task for the Iraqis will be to get their country working again after the present conflict. Their attention will be focussed on the relief of distress and the provision of food and water for their people. They will be less concerned initially with talking to foreign oil men who come seeking deals. Clumsy approaches to the wrong people will cause resentment for years to come. It will not be the swiftest who win the race but the most patient.
What direction, events will take? What is to be the role of the Iraq National Oil Corporation? What form of federalism, if any, might develop in the new Iraqi state? What control might the various sub-federal institutions have on their own petroleum resources. What of any future influence of the Islamic (Sharia) Law on petroleum policy and legislation? All these matters are dealt with in this authoritative handbook.
The attractions of Iraq to the modern petroleum explorer are multi-fold provided that the sensitivities of the Iraq people can be accommodated. This will mean that any potential foreign investor in such a strategic industry as the upstream oil sector will have to tread carefully and be prepared to expend time on building personal relationships with Iraqis in the existing oil sector. Any attempts at heavy-handed domination by outsiders will jeopardise the elevated expectations of the International Oil Companies.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Foreword by Professor T.W. Wilde
Executive Summary
Introduction
- Petroleum investment opportunities in Iraq
- Geography of Iraq
- Reference
Chapter One, a regional geologic history of the basins of the Arabian Gulf
- The Arabian Plate
- Arabian-Iranian Mega-Basin
- Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Arabian Gulf petroleum systems
- Mega-sequence One: Proterozoic, Eocambrian (Vendian) to Cambrian structural development
- Mega-sequence Two: Cambrian to Carboniferous
- Mega-sequence Three: Permo-Triassic
- Mega-sequence Four: Jurassic to Mid Cretaceous
- Mega-sequence Five: Mid Cretaceous to the Present Day
- Oil and gas prospectivity of the Arabian-Iranian Mega-Basin
- References
Chapter Two, the petroleum exploration and production history of Iraq
- Discovery of oil at Chia Surkh in Iran in the early 20th century
- Pre-First World War efforts of the Turks, the British and the Germans in the Ottoman Empire and in Iraq
- APOC, the Deutsche Bank and the Ottoman letter of 1914
- Events of the First World War
- Treaties of Versailles, of San Remo and of S?vres
- T E Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and the creation of the modern Iraq
- Further exploration by the IPC
- Politics of the 1950s and the nationalisation of IPC in 1972
- Iraqi National Oil Company, INOC, and the involvement of the IOCs
- The years of isolation and the Iran-Iraq war
- First, 1990-91, and Second, 2003, Gulf Battles
- Todays world
- References
Chapter Three, the petroleum geology of Iraq
- Arabian-Iranian mega-sequences and petroleum systems
- Regional tectonic provinces of Iraq
- Mega-sequence One: the Proterozoic (Eocambrian, Vendian) to Cambrian
- Petroleum potential of Mega-sequence One in Iraq
- Mega-sequence Two: the Cambrian to Carboniferous
- Petroleum potential of Mega-sequence Two in Iraq
- Mega-sequence Three: the Carboniferous through Permian
- Petroleum potential of Mega-sequence Three
- Mega-sequence Four in Iraq, the Mesozoic
- Petroleum potential of Mega-sequence Four: Mesozoic rocks
- Mega-sequence Five in Iraq, the Cainozoic
- The discovery of the oil at Kirkuk and other fields and the petroleum potential of Mega-sequence Five in Iraq
- Conclusions as to future Iraq exploration and production potential
- References
Chapter Four, Iraq oil and gas reserves and production history
- Oilfields of the Foothills
- Oilfields of the Plains
- Field production statistics, Iraq
- Iraqs oil production
- Natural gas reserves and production
- Downstream facilities
- Summary and conclusions of Iraq development potential
- References
Chapter Five, petroleum and other infrastructure
- Iraq refineries
- Iraq storage and distribution
- Gas gathering and distribution
- Oil export pipelines and terminals
- Oil exports
- Iraq government and legal infrastructure in the petroleum sector
- Downstream projects in the Iraq oil and gas industry
- Upstream projects in the Iraq oil and gas industry
- References
Chapter Six, the geopolitics of Iraq and the Middle East
- The oldest civilisation in the world
- The Caliphate and the importance of Iraq in Islam
- Mesopotamia and its place in the modern Middle East
- Creation of modern Iraq and its governance
- The conflicts during and between the First and the Second World Wars
- Suez and the events of the 1950s to the present day
- The Iraqi population: the Arabs and the Kurds, the Sunni and the Shia
- The Turkmens, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans and the other national minorities of Iraq
- Future federal developments in Iraq
- Geopolitics of Iraqi oil
- References
Chapter Seven, petroleum legislation and agreements in Iraq
- Early Iraq-IPC agreements
- Renegotiation and relinquishment
- Nationalisation, Law 80, and the role of the Iraq National Oil Company
- Modern Iraqi draft petroleum agreements
- A future for Iraq oil and gas
- References
Chapter Eight, the future petroleum prospectivity of Iraq
- A look into the future
- Sovereignty over and ownership of petroleum and minerals in Sharia law
- Some mining agreements in the first years of Islam
- Famous Middle Eastern petroleum concessions
- Islamic view of petroleum depletion
- Petroleum licensing in the Islamic state
- A new market for Iraq: the European Union and the Mediterranean Basin
- Energy developments after the Second World War
- Events of the 1970s and the 1980s
- 1990s and onwards
- Importance of Turkey to Europe
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter Nine, Iraq after the January 2005 elections [new chapter, added December 2004]
- Recent developments in the Iraqi petroleum sector
- An up-date on Iraqs gas sector
- Some new data on Iraq gas production and transportation
- Future developments in Iraqi gas
- The security situation in Iraq and in its neighbours
- Future rehabilitation contracts in Iraq
- The legal status of the petroleum negotiations conducted by the Saddam regime
- Future political developments in the country
- A future Iraqi upstream petroleum licensing policy
- References
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FIGURES
APPENDIX
- The INOC-ERAP contract of February 1968
- The INOC-Petrobras Agreement of 1972
- The INOC -Soviet Development Agreement of June 1969
- A modern Iraqi Petroleum Agreement
- References
