Iraq Oil Field

Qatar has expressed interest in developing gas fields on Yamal, a Russian peninsula near the Arctic Ocean with enough gas in the ground to satisfy world demand for five years, Reuters has reported. State-run Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom said that it had discussed the “high potential” for deals with state oil firm Qatar Petroleum in LNG, as well as pipeline gas supplies to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. “The Qatari side expressed interest in projects to develop complex deposits on the Yamal peninsula, including the Yamal-LNG project,” Gazprom said in a statement.

Iraq: A preliminary agreement has been signed between ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, and its Turkish partner Dayen to set up a steel mill in Northern Iraq to serve the construction industry in the region, Reuters has reported. Construction of the mill is planned to start in the second quarter of 2010, while production is scheduled to commence early in the fourth quarter of 2011. The mini-mill, which will use locally sourced scrap metal to make steel reinforcing bars, is set to cost the two firms $100m to $130m in total, and could produce as much as 500,000 tonnes per year. [AMEInfo.com]

Iraq: Iraq has announced the signing of an initial agreement with China’s CNOOC and Sinochem to develop the 2.5-billion-barrel Maysan oilfield complex, Reuters has reported. The two firms made an unsuccessful bid for the three Maysan fields in Iraq’s first auction of oilfield contracts last year. But since then they had decided to accept the government’s proposed remuneration fee of $2.30 for every additional barrel of oil produced. CNOOC and Sinochem had projected plateau output of 450,000 barrels per day when they first made the bid last year. [AMEInfo.com]

Egypt-based private equity firm Citadel Capital expects to close a $2.2bn financing deal related to an Egyptian refinery in the second quarter, Reuters has reported. Financing for the project, a greenfield refinery in partnership with Egyptian General Petroleum Corp, will include $900m from state-run Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Ahmed El Houssieny, a managing director at Citadel said at a conference in Dubai.

Iraq: Dhiya Jaafar, the head of Iraq’s South Oil Co, has said that talks between Iraq and a Japanese group led by Nippon Oil Corp to develop the Nassiriya oilfield have reached a ‘dead end’, Reuters has reported. ‘Talks with the Nippon group have reached a dead end, and we will start developing the field through national efforts,’ he said. Nippon and its partners, oil explorer Inpex Corp and plant engineering firm JGC Corp, had been negotiating the deal since the first half of last year. [AMEInfo.com]

Iraq: Iraqi Kurdistan has said that the semi-autonomous region plans to publish disputed oil deals it had made with foreign firms, Kurdish natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami told Reuters. Kurdistan and Baghdad have been in a disagreement for months over oil deals Kurdistan signed independently with foreign firms. The Arab-led government in Baghdad refuses to pay the firms, and oil exports from Kurdistan stopped last year, the news service reported. [AMEInfo.com]

Iraq: Mudher Kasim, a senior advisor at Iraq’s central bank, has said the country expects to redenominate its dinar currency by omitting three zeros off the nominal value of bank notes to facilitate currency transactions, Reuters has reported. ‘The goal is to improve the payment and receiving system in the country and consequently to reform cash management,’ he said. New notes are expected to be rolled out by the end of the year or the beginning of 2011, he said. [AMEInfo.com]

Algerian energy and mines minister, Chakib Khelil has said that all options are open at the next OPEC meeting in March, Reuters has reported. The 12 member group is scheduled to meet in Vienna on March 17 to decide whether to change production levels for crude or leave them unchanged.

Iraqi Kurdistan has said that the semi-autonomous region plans to publish disputed oil deals it had made with foreign firms, Kurdish natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami told Reuters. Kurdistan and Baghdad have been in a disagreement for months over oil deals Kurdistan signed independently with foreign firms. The Arab-led government in Baghdad refuses to pay the firms, and oil exports from Kurdistan stopped last year, the news service reported.

Data from Oman’s national economy ministry has showed that the Sultanate raised oil output for the second consecutive year in 2009, beating production for the previous year by 7.4%, Reuters has reported. In 2009, Oman produced an average of 812,500 barrels per day of oil compared to 756,800 bpd the year earlier.