APS Diplomat Operations in Oil Diplomacy articles from February 2009

APS Diplomat Operations in Oil Diplomacy archives from February 2009

Focusing On The Non-Oil Sector - Part 35b - Iraq: Oil Development Efforts.
February 9, 2009... The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is the first international oil company (IOC) to have begun work on developing a major oilfield in Iraq under a 20-year technical service agreement (TSA). Shell and several other IOCs have...

Central Govt Boosted By Provincial Polls.
February 9, 2009... PM Nuri al-Maleki's political bloc, The State of The Law (SoL), made sweeping gains at Iraq's Jan. 31 provincial elections, including sizeable victories in the cities of Baghdad in the centre and Basra in the oil-rich south. These gave the...

Complications Seen - KRG Opposition.
February 9, 2009... The Jan. 31 elections are not expected to deliver the final results for a few weeks. Nevertheless, it appears from initial media reports that Maleki is the main winner. While a crucial symbol of normalisation and democratisation, however, the...

The Basra Test.(Brief article)
February 9, 2009... With the KRG area and the Kirkuk region exempt from the Jan. 31 elections, geography dictates that the crucial test of the electoral outcome will be events in the oil-rich Basra region in the south. With the overwhelming share of Iraq proven...

The Sunni Regions.
February 9, 2009... While initial reports suggest that Shi'ite religious parties in the Jan. 31 vote to more secular-leaning candidates, the big change will be the new regional authorities headed by emboldened Sunni politicians, which do not provide good coalition...

Implications.(Iraq's election)(Brief article)
February 9, 2009... Unless factions close to Maleki make a strong showing in Shi'ite areas, the regional elections are unlikely to result in political progress on stalled core hydrocarbon issues like the petroleum law or the national revenue sharing law, anytime...

The Ahdab Venture.
February 9, 2009... The value of the TSA for al-Ahdab is $3.5 bn. CNPC has 75% in this, with the Oil Ministry's North Oil Co. (NOC) holding the remainder. The field was found in 1979 but kept undeveloped. CNPC holds the 75% in partnership with Zhenhua Oil, another...

The 1st Round Fields.
February 9, 2009... The first round of bidding for TSAs covers the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan fields in the north; West Qurna-1, Rumaila and Zubair in the south; and three oilfields in Missan province: Burzurgan, Fauqi and Abu Ghirab. The gas fields are Akkas near the...

The 2nd Round Fields.
February 9, 2009... Oil Ministry spokesman 'Asem Jihad on Feb. 2 said a Jan. 31 deadline for IOCs to send in documentation to qualify for a second round of bidding for TSAs had been extended to Feb. 15. This was because of all the holidays declared in January,...