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Huge investment needed to boost Iraq's oil output
13/10/2004 7:44

A visiting Iraqi oil official said Tuesday that Iraq was keen to attract huge international investment to boost its oil production to 6 million barrels per dayin the coming ten years, the official WAM news agency reported.

Although Iraq is torn by the war, it is looking forward increasing oil production to 6 million barrels per day, an Iraqi oil official was quoted as saying at a mini conference at the 11th Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC2004), which opened Sunday.

Natiq Balseem, scope manager of the construction department in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, also highlighted prospects in the post-war Iraqi oil industry, estimating the required investment to restore the country's oil production to pre-war capacity as around 7 billion dollars.

Iraq is currently pumping 2.8 million barrels per day, though technical problems have reduced the actual production to around 2 million barrels per day.

In terms of oil and gas reserves, Iraq has currently proven reserves of 115 billion barrels with possible reserves of 214 billion barrels, and huge reserves of gas touches 260 trillion cubic feet (7.36 trillion cubic meters).

An additional 35 billion dollars to 40 billion dollars is also needed over the next ten years in a bid to boost the oil production, Balseem added.

It would also take huge investment to rehabilitate existing oil fields and drill new wells, said Balseem, adding that the investment was required in both upstream and downstream sectors.

The official said that the advantages of Iraqi oil were its highvalue and quality, excellent geographical locations and exceptionally low production costs when drilling rates hit a 70 percent success ratio.

The Iraqi oil industry is also keen on acquiring modern technology to boost production, reduce environmental damage and conduct fresh seismic studies for new wells, said the official.

There are nearly 90 super giant fields in Iraq waiting to be explored, making the country a very exciting prospect for players in the oil and gas industry.

However, technical problems and reservoirs damage in all the giant operational fields, including Kirkuk and Rumaila, are hindering full production and the immediate need is to address these problems with an investment of nearly 3 billion dollars, according to the report.



 Xinhua