Iraq Moves To Exploit Its Massive Natural Gas Reserves

EXTRACTS

…that said, it has made some progress in developing gas resources, most notably in 2019/2020 when the US$17 billion 25-year Basra Gas Company (BGC) project with Royal Dutch Shell…

The original design plans for Nebras – formulated between Shell and the Iraq Oil Ministry and Ministry of Industry and Minerals – were for a project that could produce at least 1.8 million metric tonnes per year (mtpy) of various petrochemicals. read more

BASRA, Iraq, May 21 (Reuters) – Shell has evacuated its foreign staff, numbering around 60, from Iraq’s Basra Gas Company and flew them out of Iraq on Wednesday, two Basra Gas Company executives told Reuters.

The staff were evacuated for security reasons after workers who had been laid off from work staged a protest in the Basra Gas Company headquarters and close to another company compound, two officials said.

Basrah Gas Company is a joint venture between state-owned South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi. read more

The Sunday Times: 5 Jan 2020

Shanti Das

British nationals have been warned against travelling to Iran or Iraq, and urged to be extra vigilant in other Middle Eastern nations.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office hardened its guidance yesterday, warning that the situation could “deteriorate quickly”.

Several big British companies have a presence in Irak, including the oil giants BP and Shell and the security group G4S, and could be targeted by Tehran’s sympathisers who have publicly declared their intention to avenge America’s killing of Qassem Soleimani.  read more

SPUTNIK: Shell Stops Sending UK-Flagged Ships Through Strait of Hormuz Over Tanker Seizure by Iran

02.08.2019

Since relations between Iran and the UK further deteriorated following the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ alleged attempt to block a BP tanker traversing the Strait of Hormuz, this British multinational oil and gas conglomerate has not sent tankers there. Its Anglo-Dutch rival has also followed suit.

The gas and oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has stated that they’ve ceased sending British-flagged vessels through the key lane for oil shipping, the Strait of Hormuz, amid the UK-Iranian tensions, exacerbated by recent incidents. They, however, will apparently continue using the route. read more

Rania El Gamal: APRIL 30, 2018

DUBAI (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is fully committed to its gas joint venture in Iraq, after the energy major exited its oil assets in the OPEC country, and plans to boost its gas output there to 1.4 billion cubic feet (bcf) a day by 2020, a senior executive said. Iraq’s gas development plans have long focused on Basra Gas Co (BGC), a $17 billion, 25-year project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell 44 percent and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) 5 percent. The project was designed to aggregate gas from fields in the south including West Qurna 1, operated by Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N); Zubair, operated by Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI); and Rumaila, developed by BP (BP.L). FULL ARTICLE read more

(Reuters) – Oil major Royal Dutch Shell on Friday agreed to sell its entire stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oilfield to Japan’s Itochu Corp for $406 million. The deal comes shortly after the Anglo-Dutch company agreed to exit the Majnoon oilfield, one of the largest fields in OPEC member Iraq, and hand over its operation to state-run Basra Oil Co (BOC) by end-June. Shell EP Middle East Holdings B.V. will sell the entire share capital of Shell Iraq B.V. (SIBV), which holds a 19.6 percent stake in the oilfield to a unit of Itochu, the Anglo Dutch company said. FULL ARTICLE read more

Of particular concern to Shell, the author provides first-hand insight into Shell’s security and intelligence activities in Nigeria, Iraq, Iran, Ireland and other global hot spots and details how Shell worked with US, UK and Dutch Intelligence and military agencies to further their mutual agendas.  The author also discusses Shell’s secret communications with MEND militants in Nigeria through intermediaries. 

By John Donovan 

I suspect that Shell in particular, should be very concerned about a book in the pipeline called “CRUDE INTENTION”. I say this because the author is a former senior manager of Shell Global Security. 

Unlike the MI6 “people” hired by Shell including Guy Colegate, John Copleston and Ian Forbes McCredie, and the FBI officials recruited for their government connections like former FBI Deputy Director Richard Garcia, the author is a career security & business professional in the oil & gas industry whose own principles and ethics often conflicted those of his spymaster bosses and coworkers; including the monitoring of our activities as part of a Shell global surveillance operation.  read more

By Sarah Kent and Benoit Faucon Published January 16, 2018: Dow Jones Newswires

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell PLC is giving up on its last oil fields in Iraq, leaving the world’s second-biggest oil company with a dwindling footprint in the Middle East — a region it helped build into a petroleum powerhouse. Shell said Monday it is selling for an undisclosed amount a stake in the West Qurna 1 oil field in Iraq to Japan’s Itochu Corp., the latest step in a gradual retreat from the region. The company is also expected to give up its holding in Iraq’s Majnoon oil field later this year, though it will retain its natural-gas interests in the country. FULL ARTICLE read more

REUTERS STAFF: JANUARY 15, 2018 / 2:19 PM /

DUBAI (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oilfield to Japan’s Itochu, a Shell spokesman said on Monday.

“Itochu and Shell have reached agreement on the sale of Shell’s interest in the West Qurna 1 oilfield and are now working to secure all the necessary approvals from the government of Iraq,” the spokesman said. “Details of the discussions are commercially confidential.”

Iraq has approved the sale by Shell of its 20 percent stake in the West Qurna 1 oilfield to Itochu, a senior Iraqi oil official told Reuters last week. read more

Iraq is furious at Shell

Rania El Gamal,

With Iraq refusing to agree on a gas price with Shell, the project has hit a major impasse, industry sources said. Talks have also been complicated by Shell pulling out of the Majnoon oil fields earlier this year. “Iraq is furious at Shell and prospects don’t look that great for the Basra gas company,” one Iraqi industry source said. FULL ARTICLE

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has agreed to exit Iraq’s Majnoon oilfield and hand over its operation to a state-run company by the end of June 2018, Reuters reports, citing two Iraqi oil officials.

The Iraqi officials reportedly said the deal was reached during a meeting between Shell and officials from state-run Basra Oil on Monday at the Majnoon oilfield, which currently produces ~235K bbl/day of oil.

According to the report, Shell will focus its efforts on the development and growth of Iraq’s Basra Gas Co., which is a joint venture between Shell, Mitsubishi and others. read more

OCTOBER 21, 2017

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq may offer Chevron (CVX.N) and Total (TOTF.PA) terms to develop the Majnoon oilfield different from those it had given to Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Saturday. Iraq will develop the Majnoon oil field in southern Iraqi by its own means until it can find a foreign partner, Luaibi told reporters, adding that no company has been selected yet. Luaibi said on Oct. 9 that Chevron and Total are among the companies that have expressed interest in developing Majnoon that Shell has said it wants to leave because of unfavourable changes to fiscal terms. Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Angus MacSwan. SOURCE read more

Cheang Ming | Christine Tan: 27 Sept 2017

It’s “not unreasonable” to expect oil prices at $60 a barrel by the end of the decade, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told CNBC’s “Managing Asia.”

To be sure, that’s not a large rise from current levels.

Brent crude rose 0.38 percent to trade at $58.66 a barrel in Wednesday Asia trade, after hitting a 26-month high on Tuesday, while U.S. crudewas higher by 0.5 percent at $52.14 at 12:00 p.m. HK/SIN.

Van Beurden said forecasting oil prices in the short term was “very difficult,” but he still expected gains. read more

OPEC’s commitment to cutting production to clear a global glut is working, but the group needs to address rising output from Libya and Nigeria, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. 

Compliance with the output cuts is “acceptable,” Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should focus on “the situation with Libya and Nigeria,” he said, referring to the two countries exempted from capping production due to their internal strife. read more

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2017 / 11:54 AM

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Sunday talks are continuing with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) on the Majnoon oil field that the company is said to be seeking to quit.

“There are still negotiations, things are not clear,” Luaibi told a news conference in Baghdad. “We haven’t initiated talks with other companies.”

A letter signed by Luaibi, dated Aug. 23 and seen by Reuters, gave approval for Shell to quit Majnoon, a major oilfield near Basra which started production in 2014. read more

It seems unlikely, given Shell’s appalling track record, but in view of the latest news that a corruption probe of Eni now includes its dealings in several countries around the globe, it may be the case that Eni is indeed even more corrupt than its OPL 245 partner-in-crime, Royal Dutch Shell. 

Malcolm Brinded, who played a key role for Shell in the OPL 245 skullduggery, remains at large and a director of the Shell Foundation. I suppose they have to keep him on a payroll to make sure he does not turn on his colleagues, including former MI6 spooks employed by Shell, John Copleston and Guy Colgate.  read more