trojenaasianwintergames| Iraq wants to expand crude oil reserves to 160 billion barrels and opposes the continuation of OPEC+ production cuts
Financial Associated Press, May 11 (editor Shi Zhengcheng)-Iraq, a big crude oil producer, held a tender that attracted the attention of the world on Saturday, packing 29 oil and gas exploration projects on the shelves in one breath.
At a press conference before the start of the tender, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Oil Minister Hajan Abdul Ghani said he hoped to further increase crude oil reserves to 160 billion barrels through this move.
Significantly increase oil and gas reserves and production capacity
According to data from OPEC and the World Bank, Iraq currently has crude oil reserves of 145 billion barrels, which is fast enough to dig for 96 years.
As the second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia within the OPEC framework, the last time Iraq held a license auction was in 2018. Mr Ghani said the three-day auction, which began on Saturday, included "fifth round plus" items left over from the 2018 auction, as well as 14 "sixth round" projects.
These exploration blocks are distributed in 12 provinces in central and southern Iraq and are included in an offshore exploration block in the waters of the Arabian Gulf for the first time.
It is worth mentioning that more than 20 companies have been qualified to bid this time, from China, Iraq, Europe and Arab countries, but no oil giants from the United States. According to the known preliminary results, a number of Chinese companies have successfully awarded development contracts for a number of blocks.
In recent years, Iraq's oil production capacity has increased from 3 million barrels per day to about 5 million barrels per day, but as some oil giants such as ExxonMobil and Shell have pulled out of some projects because of concerns about returns, it has also left uncertainty for the country's future capacity growth. At the same time, according to the current OPEC+ production reduction agreement, Iraq's production capacity needs to be controlled at nearly 3.9 million barrels per day.
In addition to crude oil, Iraq also hopes these new blocs will increase the country's natural gas production capacity and reduce its dependence on Iran. According to official documents from the Iraqi government, the country is expected to receive an additional 34 per day through this series of auctions.Trojenaasianwintergames.59 billion standard cubic feet (98 million cubic meters) of natural gas and 1 million barrels of oil.
Due to a shortage of energy investment caused by years of war and sanctions, 1/3 of Iraq's current natural gas demand needs to be imported from Iran. According to the Iraqi Ministry of electricity in 2022, Iraq and Iran have reached an agreement to import 50 million cubic meters of gas a day in summer and 10 million cubic meters a day in winter.
In addition to achieving autonomous control of power supply, the increase in crude oil production capacity will also thicken the "purse" of the Iraqi government. It is reported that 90% of the government's budget is supported by oil.
Oppose the continuation of the production reduction plan
What makes the auction even more eye-catching is Ghani's position on the OPEC+ production reduction measures.
After emphasizing that Iraq has completed sufficient production cuts, the oil minister also publicly stated that he would not support OPEC+ to continue to extend the production cuts.
Ghani stressedTrojenaasianwintergamesAt the next OPEC+ meetingTrojenaasianwintergamesWe will not support any postponement of the production reduction.
Due to the fact that Iraq's production exceeded the limit in the first quarter of this year, it exceeded its target output by 19% in January.Trojenaasianwintergames.40,000 b / d, exceeding 217000 b / d in February and 193000 b / d in March. The country had just submitted a compensation plan to the OPEC secretariat, in which it kept production below the limit of 50,000 barrels per day from May to September and doubled the limit in the last three months of this year.
According to the schedule, the next OPEC + Joint Ministerial Supervisory Committee (JMMC) meeting will be held on June 1st.