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We gathered our teams for some much-needed face time at the annual retreat earlier this month in our headquarters in Basra. With the constantly growing teams working in our regional offices in Amman, Dubai and across Iraq, colleagues got to come together and reconnect away from the office and their typical responsibilities.
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Al Majal’s Oil & Gas Market Roundup in Collaboration with Qamar Energy
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Latest in the Iraqi & Global Energy Markets
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The World Bank announced a slight upward revision in its forecast of Iraq’s 2022 growth at 8.9% as OPEC+ Covid-related quotas ended in September and production has surpassed its pre-pandemic level of 4.6 Mb/d.
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On October 27, the Parliament approved the cabinet proposed by PM al-Sudani following a year of political paralysis. Iraq has appointed Hayan Abdulghani as new oil minister, replacing Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismaeel.
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Key Iraq Events – Oil and Gas
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Iraq’s oil production in October reached 4.72 Mb/d, slightly lower than August and September’s 4.74 Mb/d which marked the highest output for the country since the 2020 OPEC+ cuts.
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Iraq’s countrywide oil exports in October increased to 3.788 Mb/d, up from 3.752 Mb/d in September. Federal Iraqi exports averaged 3.292Mb/d, up 90 kb/d from September levels,
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ExxonMobil is preparing to sell its stake in West Qurna 1 (WQ-1) and is slowly handing over operations to CNPC, its consortium partner.
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QatarEnergy has expressed interest in joining TotalEnergies in the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), although no final decision was made.
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Iraq’s Oil Exploration Co. (OEC) revealed three projects, including a strategic project aimed to explore the country’s oil and gas resources on the borders with Iran
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Chinese contractors are dominating Iraq’s energy sector, as they won 87% of the oil & gas and power projects since 2018. From beginning 2022 until November 3
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OPEC has reduced its growth forecast for 2022 world oil demand by 100 kb/d to reflect the recent macroeconomic trends and the OPEC+ supply cut impact on oil demand.
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Top Energy Deals in the Region
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OPEC has reduced its growth forecast for 2022 world oil demand by 100 kb/d to reflect the recent macroeconomic trends and the OPEC+ supply cut impact on oil demand.
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Regional Rig Count (1): OPEC+ Pressure to Keep Iraq Rig Count Low
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Middle East oil drilling has still not fully recovered from the sharp drop induced by the pandemic and the related OPEC+ production cuts. However, it is likely to start expanding as quotas increase and production growth plans in the UAE and Iraq get underway. Iraq has 54 active rigs as of October 2022, all drilling for oil. This number has not increased since the start of 2022, but is up 2 on December 2021, and 11 on April 2021. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, Iraq had 77 active rigs targeting oil. Middle East gas drilling is starting to show a moderate recovery, supported by the beginning of Qatar’s LNG expansion projects and renewed efforts by Saudi Arabia towards its 2030 gas ambitions.
Note: Iraqi gas rigs are not reported by Baker Hughes, likely because Iraq reports gas rig figures clubbed with oil rigs and/or lack of response from contractors (drilling for non-associated gas is at minimal levels compared to oil, although it should pick up as Sinopec’s development of Mansuriyah and the Pearl Petroleum consortium’s expansion of Khor Mor, and potentially work by Halliburton at Akkas, move forward).
* End of Qamar Energy’s contribution, for more information about Qamar Energy, please visit www.qamarenergy.com
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Iraq Oil Market Highlights
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