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US report: Iraqi approach to extend an oil pipeline towards Syria


yota691
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Iraq is moving to implement investment projects in the oil sector

   
 

 
 


22/11/2017 12:00 am 

Baghdad / Sabah / Farah Al-Khafaf 

 The government is moving to attract international companies to implement investment projects in the oil sector, so Iraq becomes a source of oil derivatives instead of an importer, especially after achieving self-sufficiency in many of them.

The government's directives are part of the national reform campaign led by Prime Minister Dr. Haider al-Abadi, which aims to reduce dependence on oil exports and develop productive sectors, as well as strengthening the Iraqi economy by supporting the national product. 
According to a source in the oil and energy parliamentary committee for "morning", "the government has developed an integrated plan to attract international companies to invest in the implementation of giant projects related to oil refining and extraction of oil derivatives, petrochemicals and other projects." 
He pointed out that "the trend to enter into partnerships with companies known," noting that "these partnerships will contribute to moving the wheel of production of the oil sector," praising the same time the government's actions in this aspect, which he described as "positive."
The oil and energy committee headed by MP Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum discussed the draft law of the National Oil Company in the presence of the advanced owners in the Ministry of Oil. The meeting discussed the draft law of the National Oil Company and the classification of the company as a company operating and implementing Omalka oil and oil installations and its land. 
For his part, the oil expert Hussein Marzouk for "morning", the importance of investment in the oil sector of production, pointing out that "Iraq during the past decades did not see real production projects because of the policies of the former regime, as well as his preoccupation with combating terrorism after 2003."
In the meantime, Oil Minister Jabbar Ali al-Allaibi said Iraq's possession of promising investment opportunities in the oil and energy sector. Al-Allaibi said, according to a statement received "morning" a copy of it: "The ministry called on international companies to invest in the sectors of liquidation and extraction and excavation and infrastructure projects and to strengthen partnership and cooperation and interlock With national companies, to achieve common goals and contribute to the revitalization of the wheel of development and the national economy. " 
The oil minister met with a number of ministers and directors of international companies on the sidelines of his participation in the conference of ADIPEC in the United Arab Emirates, which concluded last week, and discussed with them ways to strengthen relations and investment cooperation in the oil and energy sector.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Oil Assem Jihad said that Iraq and Turkey are keen to strengthen and expand prospects for bilateral cooperation in the field of oil and energy, and work together to accelerate the resumption of Iraqi oil exports through the port of Ceyhan. 
"A senior delegation representing the Turkish Ministry of Energy has concluded meetings in Baghdad with officials of the ministry and the Iraqi oil marketing company" Sumo "focused on discussing a number of joint oil files and strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation to achieve the objectives of the two neighboring countries, Jihad said.
He added that "the issue of the resumption of Iraqi oil exports from the fields of Kirkuk through the port of Ceyhan, Turkey was the top topics discussed between the two sides, as well as discuss the obstacles and technical and administrative problems in order to find the necessary solutions by the concerned on both sides, To complete the discussions at a meeting in Turkey, which will be set later. "

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  • yota691 changed the title to Kurdistan oil flows are rising to the highest level since the crisis with Baghdad
 
Thursday, November 23,

 

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Alsumaria News / Baghdad
, according to news agency " Reuters " , quoting a shipping source on Thursday that oil flows from the territory of Kurdistan have risen during the last month to the highest level since affected the crisis in relations with the government central Baghdad negatively on the supply, as pointed out that the total quantities of Less than half of the normal level of exports. 

The oil source said that oil flows increased to about 270 thousand barrels per day on Wednesday and Thursday from the rate of between 200 thousand and 230 thousand barrels per day recorded during the last month. Before the crisis, flows were usually about 600,000 barrels a day.

 

 


"It is an increase in pumping for technical factors, the total flows are still well below the normal level," the source said.

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NOVEMBER 26, 2017 / 8:13 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

Iraq plans new pipeline exporting Kirkuk oil to Turkey -oil ministry

 

Reuters Staff

1 MIN READ

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BAGHDAD, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Iraq plans to build a new pipeline that will ship oil from Kirkuk’s oilfields to the Ceyhan port in Turkey, the oil ministry said on Sunday.

The new pipeline will replace an old and severely damaged section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. It will start from the nearby city of Baiji city and span until the Fish-Khabur border area with Turkey, the ministry said in a statement.

The territory in which the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline ran was taken by Islamic State militants in 2014 and subsequently recaptured by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces over the past two years. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Ahmed Aboulenein)

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Middle East

Iraqi oil ministry's new Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to go through KRG

Nadia Riva Nadia Riva |
 
 

Iraqi oil ministry's new Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to go through KRG
Oil exports from the Kirkuk fields stalled after Islamic State (IS) militants destroyed the pipeline and took over nearby territory in 2014. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
 

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Oil on Sunday announced it plans to build a new pipeline to transport crude oil from Kirkuk to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.

Oil exports from the disputed province of Kirkuk have been stalled since Iraqi Forces and Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias launched an attack on the oil-rich territory.

The main pipeline the Iraqi Government used to transport some 600,000 barrels per day (BPD) from Kirkuk to Ceyhan was rendered inoperable in 2014 after it was targeted by militant groups, notably the Islamic State (IS).

Iraq’s oil minister, Jabar al-Luaibi, ordered companies and departments working with his ministry to prepare the necessary paperwork for the new pipeline which will replace the severely damaged one. It will run from the city of Baiji to Faysh Khabur at the border with Turkey, an area which is still under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

 

The minister had previously instructed the Iraqi-owned North Oil Company (NOC) to establish an “urgent plan” to implement a comprehensive and accelerated rehabilitation plan for the crude oil pipeline network from the Kirkuk fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The Iraqi Oil Ministry’s spokesperson, Asim Jihad, however, explained that the damages were far too extensive and that repairs would not be possible.

The new pipeline would also be used to bypass the Kurdistan Region who has been running its own pipeline to export oil from the mixed province of Kirkuk since it secured the territory after Iraqi Forces failed to defend the area from IS in 2014.

Since overtaking Kirkuk in October, the Iraqi government claimed it would increase production to one million BPD. The NOC currently exports 60,000 BPD to Turkey while the rest is transferred abroad through southern Iraq.

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  • yota691 changed the title to Official: Iraq will convert most of Kirkuk oil field production to local refineries
 

Iraq is preparing to turn most of Kirkuk’s oilfield production into domestic refineries in the future, as the conflict with the Kurdish authorities continues over the use of a pipeline to export crude to Turkey, an Iraqi official said on Monday.
Kirkuk’s production stopped in mid-October, with Iraqi forces taking out Kurdish fighters from Kirkuk and taking control of oil fields in the north.
The transfer of Kirkuk crude to the Doura refinery near Baghdad and the Baiji refinery north of the Iraqi capital will help provide more oil for export from the south, the official told Reuters.
The official said on condition of anonymity that some of Kirkuk’s crude will be transported “in the near future” on trucks to the Kermanshah refinery at the rate of 30 thousand barrels per day.
Control of Kirkuk, a region that has been under Kurdish control since 2014, was part of measures adopted by the Iraqi government in response to a referendum on secession that took place in northern Iraq in September.
Kirkuk lies outside the official borders of semi-autonomous Kurdistan and uses its fields to pump about half of the crude delivered by a pipeline through the territory controlled by the territorial government to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.
Fields are being pumped into the Kurdistan region of Iraq for the second half.
Last week it announced crude flows through the pipeline amounted to about 270 thousand barrels per day. Before the crisis, the volume of inflows amounted to 600 thousand barrels per day, equivalent to about 17 percent of Iraq’s total exports.
Iraq, the second largest producer of crude in OPEC after Saudi Arabia, exports most of its crude output from the south.
The Iraqi official said that the Kurds refused to hand over the Iraqi authorities Khormala reservoir, which is part of the geological formation of the Kirkuk oil basin, but it is located geographically within the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.
He said the government wanted Khormala to be under the control of the state-run Oil Company of the North, just like the rest of Kirkuk.

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Iraq plans to tender for the construction of a pipeline for the export of Kirkuk crude

Readers

 

 

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Iraq plans to tender for the construction of a pipeline for the export of Kirkuk crude

 

29-11-2017 02:48 PM

 

The Euphrates -

 

Oil Minister Jabbar al-Allaibi said on Wednesday that Iraq plans to tender within a week to build a new pipeline for the export of Kirkuk crude. 

Last month, the central government restored control of Kirkuk from the grip of the Kurdistan region. The production of about 300,000 barrels per day has since stalled amid a dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over export routes. 

The oil minister told reporters in Vienna: The new pipeline will be able to transport 300,000 barrels per day, adding that the current production of Kirkuk, which amounts to about 80 thousand barrels per day trucking to power plants and local refineries. 

Al-Allaibi said that Iraq is in the process of opening a dialogue with Russia's state-run Rosneft, one of the most active investors in Kurdistan.

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Follow - up / Tomorrow 's Press: 
Detection and Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Allaibi on Wednesday, during Matmrakd in Vienna, said that "Iraq plans to launch a tender within a week to build a new pipeline to export Kirkuk crude." 
"The new pipeline will be able to transport 300,000 barrels per day," he said, adding that "the current production of Kirkuk, which amounts to about 80 thousand barrels per day, transported by truck to power stations and local refineries."
"Iraq is in the process of opening a dialogue with Russia's state-run Rosneft, one of the most active investors in Kurdistan, and the production of about 300,000 barrels per day has been disrupted since then amid a dispute between Baghdad and Erbil on export routes," al-Allaibi said. 
The Kurdistan region built another pipeline to export Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan overlooking the Mediterranean Sea after the damage caused by the old Kirkuk pipeline pipeline of the federal government. 
It is noteworthy that the federal government recovered last month control of the Kirkuk field from the grip of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. 
The production of about 300,000 barrels per day has since stalled amid a dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over export routes.
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https://uk.reuters.com/article/iraq-oil/update-1-iraq-plans-tender-for-new-kirkuk-oil-pipeline-idUKL8N1NZ4I0?rpc=401&.

 

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 / 2:15 PM / UPDATED 37 MINUTES AGO

UPDATE 1-Iraq plans tender for new Kirkuk oil pipeline

 

Reuters.

 

VIENNA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Iraq will announce a tender for a new oil export pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfield within a week, the country’s oil minister said on Wednesday.

Last month, Iraq’s central government retook control of the field from the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. Production of some 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) has been disrupted since then as Baghdad and Erbil argue about export routes.

 
 

“We have already issued a tender to build a new pipeline with a 40 inch diameter and two pumping stations,” Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi told reporters in Vienna.

Kurdistan has built another pipeline for Kirkuk exports to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan after the old Kirkuk pipeline belonging to the federal government had been damaged by Islamic State militants.

Kirkuk’s production stopped in mid-October after Iraqi forces dislodged Kurdish fighters from Kirkuk and took over the northern region’s oilfield.

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi told reporters in Vienna that the new pipeline would be able to ship 300,000 bpd. He said current production from Kirkuk of around 80,000 bpd was being shipped by truck to local power stations and refineries.

 

Luaibi said Iraq was opening dialogue with Russian state oil firm Rosneft, one of the most active investors in Kurdistan.

Luaibi said the contract model for the new round to offer nine exploration blocks bordering Iran and Kuwait will differ from those signed with foreign companies to develop its southern oilfields. (Reporting by OPEC team, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson and Louise Heavens)

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Iraq Boosts Oil Export Trough South

 

Basnews English

01/12/2017 - 00:09

 
 
Iraq Boosts Oil Export Trough South
 

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi revealed his country’s oil exports through Basra port has reached its peak, 3.9 million barrels per day.

Luaibi commended the role of the staff at his ministry for boosting the exports through southern port while exports in the north of the country has faced an obstacles.

He stated that Baghdad is intended to even take the flow of exports even higher in hopes of increasing the national income and address issues caused by budget deficit.

 

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/economy/world/396548

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  • yota691 changed the title to Iraqi oil exports from southern ports amounted to 3.5 million barrels per day
01-12-2017 12:00 PM
image.php?token=bcab26f80e7a5d53253a767809b083e0&size=
 


 

 

An oil official told Reuters on Friday that Iraqi oil exports from southern ports averaged 3.5 million barrels per day in November. 

The previous figure of 3.9 million barrels per day announced by the Oil Ministry on Thursday was for November 29 only.

 

 

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  • yota691 changed the title to Iraq achieves more than $ 6 billion in export revenues of 3.5 million barrels of oil

Iraq achieves more than $ 6 billion in export revenues of 3.5 million barrels of oil

Iraq achieves more than 6 billion dollars export revenues 3.5 million barrels of oil

Twilight News    

 

 48 minutes ago

 

 

The Ministry of Oil announced the high rate of oil exports and revenues achieved for the month of November last compared to last October, according to preliminary statistics from the Iraqi oil marketing company "Sumo". 

The volume of exports of crude oil reached 105 million, 50 thousand and 804 barrels with revenues of 6 billion, 8 million and 252 dollars. 

The spokesman for the Ministry of Oil Assem Jihad in an interview with the twilight news, these statistics did not come out of the fields of Kirkuk. 

He pointed out that the daily rate of exports amounted to 3 million and (502) thousand barrels. 

Jihad added that the average price per barrel amounted to (57,194) dollars.

 

Keywords: 

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The oil ministry announced on Saturday the signing of an agreement with Iran to export oil from Kirkuk fields to Iran, while the Director General of the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (Sumo) Alaa Yasiri that the export process will begin soon.
“The signing of an agreement between Iraq and Iran provides for Iraq to export oil from the fields of Kirkuk to Iran at the rate of 30-60 thousand barrels per day can be increased through the basin until the completion of the extension of an oil pipeline for this purpose,” Oil Minister Jabbar Ali al-Allaibi said in a statement. “He said.
He added that “the agreement signed by the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) with the Iranian side provides for the Iraqi side to transfer the quantities mentioned through trucks to the border point between the two countries near the province of Kermanshah, while the Iranian side delivered the same quantities and the same specifications through the ports of South Iraq”.
For his part, said the Director General of the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company Alaa Yasiri, “The agreement will contribute to the addition of a new export port of Iraq is an addition to the discharge of Kirkuk oil and economic feasibility of Iraq, providing Iraq with the costs of transportation to the south for export, as well as strengthening economic relations With neighboring countries, “stressing that” the export process will begin soon. ”
On November 6, 2017, the Ministry of Oil announced talks with the Iranian side to export crude oil from the Kirkuk province to one of its refineries, noting that the process of transporting oil would be started by trucks.

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IRAQ AND IRAN SIGN KIRKUK OIL EXPORT CONTRACT
Iraq, December 10, 2017 

Iraq and Iran have signed an agreement to export up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day from the fields of Kirkuk to Iran.

The rate of exports can be increased through the basin until the completion of the extension of an oil pipeline for this purpose, said Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Ali Al-Luaibi.

He added that the agreement signed by the Iraqi oil marketing company Sumo with the Iranian side provides for the Iraqi side to transfer oil via trucks to the joint border point between the two countries near the province of Kermanshah.

Meanwhile the Iranian side delivered the same quantities and the same specifications through the ports South of Iraq.

The agreement was signed by Alaa Yasiri, director general of Sumo and Hidayatzadeh, a representative of the Iranian Oil Ministry.

Al-Luaibi said that Iraq is keen to strengthen relations with neighbouring countries and the world, and that the Ministry plans to establish strategic oil projects that enhance the prospects of bilateral cooperation with Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as well as Egypt.

tradearabia

 

http://iraqdailyjournal.com/story-z16339924

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Tomorrow Press / Salah two doors: 
A member of the Committee on Industry, Energy and Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Parliament Izzat Sabir province, on Thursday, from the Kurdistan region of oil exports during the month financial Wardtha last month.

"The size of the Kurdistan region's exports of oil last month amounted to 8 million barrels and half a million on the calculation of 50 dollars per barrel," Saber told Al-Ghad Press. "The volume of oil sales was through tankers and oil pipelines." 
He added that "the volume of imports last month from the sale of oil only amounted to 425 million dollars."
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  • yota691 changed the title to Iraq plans to transfer oil to "neighboring countries"

 

13:32 16.12.2017(Updated 13:51 16.12.2017)

Iraq plans to supply pipelines to transport oil and crude oil to neighboring countries, the Iraqi oil minister said Saturday.

 

"Iraq intends to transfer oil to neighboring countries," the minister said. 

 

"Iraq intends to build a pipeline network to transport oil products to all parts of the country," the minister said.

The minister, Jabbar Ali al-Allaibi, issued a statement in which he said that "earlier in the formation of a high-level committee headed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Extraction in order to develop an integrated study for the establishment of an integrated system of pipelines for the transfer of oil derivatives, linking the Iraqi provinces and cities in the north, center and south integrated system of Pipelines to transport oil derivatives, provided that this committee recommendations and proposals at the end of the month, "noting that" the ministry will study the implementation of this strategic project by strategic investment or other. "

"Iraq is in dire need of an integrated pipeline system for the transport of oil derivatives, as well as the existence of tanks and pumping stations in the main cities that cover the needs of the country instead of tanker transport, which constitute an additional financial burden, as well as the risks and other problems that cause them." 

Al-Luaibi pointed out that "the repeated sabotage operations that hit the infrastructure of the networks of transport of crude oil and pipelines of oil exports and a number of pipelines for the transport of petroleum products by terrorist gangs, as well as the aging of pipes has greatly affected the activities of the Ministry in this area." 

He revealed Allaibi that "the ministry is in the process of establishing a number of pipelines linking crude oil and oil derivatives to the border with neighboring countries."

 

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  • yota691 changed the title to Oil calls for the establishment of an integrated pipeline system to transport oil derivatives across the country
 
Saturday 16 December
 
 
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Alsumaria News / Baghdad
instructed Oil Minister Jabbar Ali Allaibi Saturday, setting up an integrated system of pipelines to transport petroleum products throughout the country, revealing that the ministry has sought to set up a number of pipelines up crude oil and oil derivatives to the border with neighboring countries. 

The oil minister, Jabbar Ali al-Allaibi during his chairmanship of the Chamber of Operations of the ministry in a statement received Alsumaria News a copy of it, "earlier in the formation of a high-level committee headed by the Undersecretary for the extraction in order to develop an integrated study to establish an integrated system for pipelines to transport oil derivatives, And the cities of Iraq in the north, center and south of the integrated system of transmission lines of oil derivatives on this committee to make recommendations and proposals at the end of the month, "adding that"

 

 


"Iraq has become in dire need of an integrated pipeline system to transport oil derivatives, as well as the existence of tanks and pumping stations in the main cities that cover the needs of the country instead of tanker transport, which constitute an additional financial burden, as well as the risks and other problems that cause them." 

Al-Luaibi pointed out that "the repeated sabotage operations that hit the infrastructure of the transmission networks of crude oil and pipelines of oil exports and a number of pipelines to transport oil products by terrorist gangs, as well as the aging of pipelines has greatly affected the activities of the ministry in this area," noting that " The oil sector has contributed to reducing the damage and work on the return of terrorist gangs and that the ministry is continuing to promote infrastructure and develop the oil industry. " 

Al-Allaibi revealed that "

The wars in Iraq and the aging of transport networks led to Iraq's dependence almost entirely on the transfer of oil derivatives, which are occasionally exposed to risk related to the party and the processes of theft and theft.

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Iraq, December 17, 2017 

Iraq plans to build a pipeline network to carry oil products across all its territory as an alternative to expensive and hazardous transport by tanker truck, Oil Minister Jabar Al-Luaibi said on Saturday.
The network is part of a “strategic” plan for oil transportation that includes pipelines to deliver crude and oil products to neighboring countries, he said.
The only crude pipeline now in operation in Iraq links the northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
All other crude pipelines were shut down or destroyed in the past 35 years as a result of wars and conflicts. Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, once had an extensive network of pipelines to export its crude.
One of them carried Iraqi oil across Syria to Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast, another to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, largely bypassing the Kurdish region, and one to the Red Sea across Saudi Arabia.
Iraq earlier this month announced plans to build a crude pipeline to fellow OPEC member Iran.

arabnews

 

http://iraqdailyjournal.com/story-z16372258

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  • yota691 changed the title to The rate of export of Iraqi oil from southern ports reaches about 4 million barrels
12:43
Last updated
The time now is 12:59 AM
190
Watch
 
 
BASRA / Al-Ghad Press: 
A source of navigation, on Monday, the arrival of the rate of export of crude oil from the ports of southern Iraq to about 4 million barrels of crude oil. 
"The pumping rate is 159 thousand barrels per hour through Basra oil port and sea buoys," the source said.

"Two giant ships have been completed, while another six ships are being unloaded on the oil docks." 
He stressed that "the work continues on a regular basis and no obstacles to stop the export of oil, both on the level of climate or other factors."
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Iraq uses drones to protect its oil pipelines

By
 rami
 -
December 19, 2017
14
0
 
 
4-11.jpg?fit=840%2C560
 

The Ministry of Oil intends to use unmanned aircraft to monitor and protect Iraqi oil production and export lines.
The plan comes a day after the Ministry of Oil announced its intention to “establish an integrated system for pipelines to transport oil derivatives throughout the country to achieve high flow in the pumping and transport of these products in order to meet the needs of all Iraqi provinces and cities.
Oil Minister Jabbar Ali al-Allaibi said during his chairmanship of the operations chamber of the ministry that “the repeated sabotage operations that hit the infrastructure of the transport networks of crude oil and pipelines of oil exports and a number of pipelines for the transport of oil products by terrorist gangs, as well as the aging of pipelines has greatly affected the activities of the ministry in this field”.

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TURKEY PULSE

Baghdad could take oil in new direction — away from Turkey

 
Mahmut Bozarslan December 18, 2017
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RTS1H087-870.jpg
ARTICLE SUMMARY
Now that Iraq's central government in Baghdad has reclaimed oil-rich Kirkuk from the Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq is considering changes that could hurt Turkey's standing in the oil market there.
 
 REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Flames emerge from flare stacks at the oil fields in Kirkuk, Iraq, Oct. 18, 2017.
 

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — The Kurds in Iraq are suffering from their loss of the lucrative Kirkuk oil fields, which the central government retook by force recently. What some people might not realize is, Turkey also has a lot to lose because of the change.

Since the British first discovered oil in Iraq at Kirkuk in the late 1920s, the struggle for its ownership has never ceased, although the players involved have changed. This lucrative oil source — whose ownership is claimed outright by both Kurds and Arabs, and partially by Turkey — is back in the news.

During the Islamic State (IS) offensive, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq recaptured Kirkuk in 2014. For three years, the KRG sold oil from Kirkuk via a pipeline running from there to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. But tension recently mounted in the region when the KRG held an independence referendum in September. In response, the Iraqi army marched on Kirkuk and with the support of the mostly Shiite, Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Units, captured the oil fields.

Turkey was pleased that Kirkuk was once again under Baghdad's control, particularly because of the 600-mile-long Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. This line, with a daily capacity of 150,000 barrels, was being used only sporadically, and the flow halted altogether after the September referendum. After Baghdad took over Kirkuk, Turkey hoped the flow would resume and serve Turkey's economic interests — but it hasn't.

Iraq feels it owes Iran a debt of gratitude for Tehran's support against IS. On Dec. 9, Iraqi Oil Minister Jaber al-Luaibi announced that Baghdad had signed an agreement to move the Kirkuk oil through Iran — which came as a major blow to Turkey. The agreement calls for pumping 30,000-60,000 barrels of oil daily to Kermanshah, Iran.

The deal could change many equations in the region.

Arez Abdullah, a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party in the Iraqi parliament, and also chairman of the parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, said Iraq is keen to develop its oil and trade relations with Iran. Abdullah noted that with this agreement, the existing Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline could become irrelevant and inoperative.

“This is going to affect Turkey badly. The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline will remain for the time being. Iraq will assess its profits and may well abandon the Ceyhan line,” he told Al-Monitor.

Abdullah said the United States will not be pleased with the Iraq-Iran agreement. “But I don’t think it will openly come out against it, as the United States knows well the close economic, social and religious ties between the two countries,” he added.

Arzu Yilmaz, the chairman of the Department of International Relations at the American University of Kurdistan in Dahuk, said the agreement has diverse dimensions.

“Kirkuk is also the economic heart of Kurdistan. Iran, while dominating the Baghdad region economically, militarily and politically, could not extend its dominance to Kurdistan. With this agreement we can say that Iran has added Kurdistan to its sphere of influence, by controlling Kirkuk [through Iraq]. This deal will have repercussions also in the domestic politics of Kurdistan," Yilmaz told Al-Monitor.

She said, "The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has played a key role in economically strengthening the Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] rule. This pipeline had a significant role in developing economic and political relations with Turkey. Transiting the pipeline through KDP-controlled terrain profited the Kurdish authority. Now the [route could instead] traverse the areas controlled by the Gorran and PUK parties and may provide similar benefits to Yekiti-Gorran factions."

Yilmaz thinks that if a political settlement is reached in Syria's conflict, an oil route from Kirkuk to the Syrian port of Banias can be discussed, which would further marginalize Turkey in the regional economic structure. "Recent developments suggest that this is a likely option" that would isolate Turkey economically from Iraq, and Ankara is already isolated from Baghdad politically, she said. "After the 2014 IS offensive, Turkey was sidelined from the Iraqi political scene. An Iraq-Iran oil accord will mean some economic hardships for Turkey, but if a Kirkuk-Banias line is activated, Turkey would be totally isolated,” she added.

How will the United States react to Iran's growing influence in the region? Yilmaz noted that the United States and Iran have been quietly cooperating for a long time to combat IS. “Although the US president keeps making anti-Iran statements, US-Iran cooperation [against IS] in the Iraqi scene is obvious. The United States — which has serious issues with Turkey — is having problems abandoning Iran. While Turkey flirts with Russia, the United States discreetly continues to work with Iran,” she said.

In the tension that arose with the Kurdish referendum, Turkey chose to side with Baghdad instead of mediating. Turkey, which at one time had kept its distance from the Iraqi Kurdish market because of the Kurds' nationalist sentiments, had been slowly coming to dominate this market, particularly its oil segment. Iran’s latest move has at least partially challenged Turkey’s market domination.

If this becomes reality, then Turkey will be totally sidelined. Turkey, along with the United States, is slowly abandoning Iraq's political and economic scenes, leaving Baghdad to Iran. The biggest loser will again be the Kurds.

MahmutBozarslanBW.jpg

Mahmut Bozarslan is based in Diyarbakir, the central city of Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast. A journalist since 1996, he has worked for the mass-circulation daily Sabah, the NTV news channel, Al Jazeera Turk and Agence France-Presse (AFP), covering the many aspects of the Kurdish question, as well as the local economy and women’s and refugee issues. He has frequently reported also from Iraqi Kurdistan. On Twitter: @mahmutbozarslan



Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/12/turkey-iraq-kirkuk-oil-to-flow-iran.html#ixzz51iC89A48

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Iraq, December 19, 2017 

The Iraqi government announced plans to use drones to monitor and protect its export and production pipelines in the first quarter of next year. Reuters reported on Monday that Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luiebi is looking for professional security companies that can supply Iraq with drones.

The Iraqi government is concerned about the security of its oil facilities. The bulk of Iraq's exports move through a handful of terminals on Iraq's narrow Persian Gulf coast, making its exports vulnerable to attack from other countries or militant groups.

Iraqi authorities said that the drones will allow Iraq's military to keep a continuous watch over its oil terminals within Iraqi territorial waters of the Persian Gulf. The idea of using drones is not exactly new one. Back in 2012, Iraq said it would use unmanned drones to help protect its southern oil platforms, following the withdrawal of the American troops.

However, in May this year, media reported that the U.S. has agreed to sell a dozen or so of the U.S. Navy's Scan Eagle unmanned drones to Iraq's navy as part of an effort to help protect the nation's oil exports amid growing tensions in the Persian Gulf.

Back in May, U.S. Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq, which operates out of the U.S. Embassy and manages U.S. military sales programs in Iraq, confirmed the sale of the drones.

Iraq is also hoping to balance international concerns about Iran's threats to cut off oil shipments to some European countries that import Iranian oil. Iraq said it is not worried about whether Iran views Iraq's progress as a threat.

For the first six month of 2017, Iraq has boosted oil production to 3 million barrels per day, up from about 2.5 million before the invasion. However, the country’s output fell last month by 120,000 barrels a day—the most since January—as the central government clashed with the Kurds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That meant Iraq pumped 4.35 million barrels a day in October

Drones entered in the oil industry a decade ago, when the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the British BP the first authorization to use them in its oil fields in Alaska, where human presence is very scarce.

oilprice

 

http://iraqdailyjournal.com/story-z16387643

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