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IRAQ: The Petroleum Exploration and Production Handbook

Second Edition (Dec. 2004)
by Michael A. G. Bunter
312 pages

Prices

• Single User License - Hard copy & digital file (PDF) 1350.00 euro
• Site License - Hard copy & digital file (PDF) 1950.00 euro (i.e. for corporate use regionally)

Provides an authoritative evaluation of Iraq as an E and P petroleum investment opportunity. It describes for the international oil companies market the attractiveness of inward investment into Iraq in terms of its technical, legal/contractual, fiscal and geopolitical prospectivity.

For a more detailed introduction and to view the table of contents, download this PDF document: IRAQ_ep_handbook.pdf (250 kb)

Short introduction to the second edition:

It may seem premature to comment on any new developments in the Iraqi petroleum sector since security has by no means been restored to the country. However recent press reports suggest that the International Oil Companies, the IOCs, do not take an exclusively negative view of future Iraqi oil developments and have been prepared to plan for the future. Not a few companies are now involved in discussions with the Iraqi authorities about full-cycle E and P projects and also about production and rehabilitation deals. We have pleasure in announcing that the Second Edition of "Iraq: the Petroleum Exploration and Production Handbook" is now available for subscribers. This new and enlarged edition is offered to new subscribers at a reduced price and is provided free-of-charge to existing subscribers.

Mr Bunter did anticipate, in the First Edition of his Handbook, a degree of lawlessness to be expected in Iraq after "mission accomplished" although he did not predict with any certainty ( but then nor did anyone else) the present level of insurgency. Not only that, his views on a likely tripartite federal status for Iraq now seem likely to be fulfilled. The latter, if the various functions of the Iraq National Oil Company, INOC, are devolved from Baghdad, could come to have a profound effect on the Iraqi petroleum sector and on future plans to license acreage to the IOCs. Mr Bunter discusses this in detail in his Chapter Six, the Geopolitics of Iraq and the Middle East and in this new edition.

Mr Bunter's Handbook now includes a completely new Chapter Nine, nearly fifty pages long, which was written in November 2004 well over a year after "mission accomplished". It incorporates a good deal of information, newly obtained, on the upstream, midstream and downstream of the Iraqi gas sector. One topic covered in some detail is the plan for the export of Iraqi gas to Turkey. Also provided is post-war material on the rehabilitation and upgrading of the midstream and downstream oil sector, on some full-cycle E and P projects and also new material on the legal situation of the petroleum upstream. The latter includes Iraqi government opinion on the ownership of petroleum reserves. There is also an up-to-date legal discussion on the pre-war petroleum transactions and some information about post-war petroleum operations including the post-war activities of foreign oil companies in Iraq. Much information has also been gleaned on the likely direction of future Iraqi oil policy including its upstream petroleum licensing plans. Last but very definitely not least is a long discussion on the security situation that now confronts the country and its implications for future foreign investment.

About the author

Written by Michael A. G. Bunter, an ex-oil company petroleum geologist with over 30 years of oilfields' experience, the author has had considerable involvement in exploration and production in the Arabian Gulf and is well positioned to address the technical and commercial issues of the Iraq petroleum sector in language familiar to oil company management and to technical specialists.

With the support of an advisory team, lead by Thomas W. Wälde, Professor & Jean-Monnet Chair CEPMLP/Dundee and Principal, Thomas Wälde & Associates, the advisory team includes Dr Falah Alamri, an Iraqi oil lawyer and Professor A Al-Hajji, a noted petroleum economist focusing on Middle East and other oil lawyers, geologists and economists in the UK, US and Iraq.

Edited by Ruth Eldon, IBA Legal Publishing Consultant.

Be well informed about the enormous opportunities arising in this country with its abundant resources but battered infrastructure. Be also well informed about the sensitivities involved and increase your chances over the competition through awareness of them and acting accordingly.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Foreword by Professor T.W. Wälde

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 Sèvres
• 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
• Today's 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
• Iraq's 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 Iraq’s 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

For a more detailed introduction and to view the table of contents, download this PDF document: IRAQ_ep_handbook.pdf (450 kb)

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