Iraq is making progress in putting its battered petroleum industry back together 1-1/2 years after the Persian Gulf war ended.
OPEC News Agency (Opecna) reported the finish of reconstruction of Iraq's Mina al-Bakr oil terminal on the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, using Iraqi know-how and engineering personnel.
The terminal, heavily damaged during the gulf conflict, has been restored to its prewar loading capacity of 1.6 million b/d at a cost of $16 million. Ninety per cent of the port had been damaged.
In addition:
- Oil Ministry Undersec. Faez Abdullah Shahin disclosed Iraq plans to resume development of giant Majnoon oil field in the southeast part of the country, again using "national know-how and experience." He made the disclosure in the first edition of Oil and the World, the ministry's monthly magazine.
- Ghazi Sabir, director general of Iraqi Northern Oil Co., said Khabbaz oil field, capable of producing 40,000 b/d, is operational. Quoted by Al-Jimhuriyah newspaper, he said development of oil projects in the north part of the country, implemented by foreign firms before the gulf conflict, are complete.
- In the west, Iraq has started drilling the first wildcat on the Akkas prospect. A report carried by Opecna did not pinpoint the site.
Meanwhile, Oil Ministry Undersec. Taha Hmoud Mousa said Iraq's refining capacity stands at 590,000 b/d, 140,000 b/d more than domestic needs. The country is ready to export products as soon as the United Nations' economic embargo is lifted.
Neighboring states, particularly Turkey, need Iraqi products, Mousa said.
MINA AL-BAKR TERMINAL
An Oil Ministry spokesman told Opecna the Mina al-Bakr terminal reconstruction project had been finished in a record 8 months.
It was the second time the terminal had been rebuilt. It also received heavy damage during the 8 year Iran-Iraq war, which ended in September 1988.
"At that time," the spokesman said, "the oil terminal was reconstructed at a cost of $140 million in 18 months."
Mina Al-Bakr is designed to receive tankers of 500,000 dwt. Built in 1975, the terminal consists of two land and naval ports.
The first part has two pump stations in Rumaila and Zubair and a 45 km pipeline running to the terminal. The second (naval) part consists of 36 in. and 48 in. diameter pillars carrying the upper part of the terminal, which includes two loading piers.
The terminal has four main loading piers with a capacity of 400,000 b/d each. All naval passages that lead to the terminal have been cleared of wreckage, Opecna reported.
MAJNOON FIELD
Shahin told Oil and the World magazine Iraq might cooperate with international firms to develop Majnoon oil field after the U.N. lifts its economic embargo.
Field development was twice impeded--first by the Iraq-Iran war, then by the Persian Gulf conflict.
Shahin said war damaged oil facilities in northern Iraq are fully repaired and can produce about 1 million b/d. Southern oil installations, Shahin added, could produce another 1 million b/d.
"Iraq's productive capacity will be increased to 3 million b/d by the end of this year," he said.
Iraq could export 1.18 million b/d immediately through its pipelines via Turkey. That could be raised to 1.6 million b/d, he said.
A further 1 million b/d could be exported through Iraqi terminals on the gulf, Iraq also could also export through its pipelines via Saudi Arabia, where throughput could be raised to 1.5 million b/d.
Meanwhile, a number of oil projects in Basrah governorate have been inaugurated in the southern part of the country.
Among them are the second production line of Basrah refinery, which has a design capacity of 70,000 b/d.
Unit No. 1 of the fifth degasing station in Rumailah field, with a production capacity of 80,000 b/d, has been repaired and is back on stream.
Another facility repaired is a compressor station with a capacity of 167 MMcfd. It serves Basrah and other governorates in the southern Iraq.
KHABBAZ FIELD
Sabir said work on the Khabbaz oil field development project, which began in 1987, was suspended during the Persian Gulf war.
Lying in the northern Al-Tamim governorate, Khabbaz has oil and gas in three reservoirs--Miocene Jeribe 36 gravity, Middle Cretaceous upper Qamchuqa 29, and lower Qamchuqa 42--at minus datum 1,907 m, 2,687 m, and 2,910 m, respectively.
Pay thicknesses have been estimated at 130 m, 125 m, and 175 m, respectively, Opecna reported.
Proved reserves in the field, discovered in 1976, have been estimated at more than 2 billion bbl.
When technical and economic studies were completed in 1987, the field was to produce 30,000-40,000 b/d of oil and 45 bcfd of natural gas.
AKKAS EXPLORATION
An article in Oil and the World said Akkas exploratory drilling is to be complete during second quarter 1993.
It said that seismic surveys indicated a big structure--35 km by 7 km--"which increased the probability of oil reservoirs."
Akkas drilling targets oil and gas in unexplored, deep sediments. Projected depth of the first well is 5,000 m.
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