April 20, 2010ExxonMobil to lead Iraq water injection project
ExxonMobil has been picked to lead a “multibillion-dollar” water-injection project on behalf of international oil companies that won contracts in southern Iraqi oilfields, an official said yesterday.
The cost of the project would be distributed among those majors that won development contracts for southern oilfields in the two auctions Iraq held last year, said Abdul Mahdy Al Ameedi, director of the Oil Ministry’s licensing office.
Water injection helps to increase the amount of crude that can be pumped from oilfields and will be a key to enabling the oil firms to reach ambitious production targets set in the oilfield development contracts.
“The cost of this super giant project will be in the multi-billion dollars,” Ameedi said.
“The super giant project will have the capacity to inject 12 million barrels per day of water from the Gulf to deal with the issue of the shortage of water for injection into the wells in the southern fields.”
Ameedi said the companies that would help cover the costs of the water injection project included Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, Lukoil, Malaysia’s Petronas, China’s CNPC and Eni of Italy.
The Peninsula ~ and ...
Tillerson denies huge Iraq water dealThe head of US supermajor ExxonMobil denied that his company has been picked to lead a "multi-billion dollar" water-injection project in Iraq, contrary to earlier reports.
19 April 2010 23:23 GMT
To his knowledge, operators in Iraq's southern oifields had made no decision about how they would handle water injection for the fields, Rex Tillerson told reporters on the sidelines of a lunch sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Houston.
When asked if ExxonMobil was heading the project, Tillerson replied simply "No."
He said operators have been in discussions with the Iraqi government about the issue, but no one has committed to anything.
ExxonMobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross said it was "premature" to provide further detail.
"Work programs and plans are in the early stages," she told UpstreamOnline. "They include proposed approaches to the use of water in the West Qurna-1 field, including the potential option for a joint plan involving other fields."
Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, director of the Oil Ministry's licensing office had been reported as saying the operators had agreed on a cost sharing arrangement for water injection and ExxonMobil would operate the project.
"The cost of this super giant project will be in the multi-billion dollars," Ameedi told Reuters.
"The super giant project will have the capacity to inject 12 million barrels per day of water from the Gulf to deal with the issue of the shortage of water for injection into the wells in the southern fields."
Ameedi said the companies that would help cover the costs of the water injection project included ExxonMobil, Shell, Lukoil, Petronas, China National Petroleum Corporation and Eni.
ExxonMobil was selected to lead the project at a meeting this month in Istanbul, he said.
"The companies will pay according to their stakes," he said.
Iraq has signed 10 deals with international producers to develop some of its largest oilfields. The deals have the potential to boost Iraqi oil production capacity to Saudi levels of 12 million barrels per day from its current level of 2.5 million bpd.
Tillerson was at the lunch to be honored as the Jesse H and Mary Gibbs Jones International Citizen of 2010.
