Roughly speaking, the Wataniya group is an Iraqi refinery that is well known
for the sake of its high-quality bitumen grades and petrochemical products.
In the following, we tend to talk about the Iraq economy and some important
factors in this regard. The former Iraqi oil minister and candidate for the post
of Secretary-General of OPEC stated that the average Iraqi oil production this
year may be over three million barrels per day, which is an increase
compared to year 1, and by the end of this year, probably to level 3.
On the other hand, security and infrastructure problems in Iraq have caused
the country to fall short of its initial target of 2.7 million barrels per day of
oil production in 2013 and the forecast of 4,000 barrels per day growth this year.
Respectively, Ghazban said: “If we consider all these issues, such as the losses
and damages caused by the sabotage of the Iraqi oil export pipeline and the
non-commitment of the Iraqi Kurdistan region to its duties, you will
understand why the oil production and export program Iraq has not been
realized in the year 2.
Wataniya group and Iraq’s oil
“If we resolve all of Iraq’s infrastructural and political problems,
Iraq’s oil production in 2014 could reach four million barrels per day,
surpassing Iraq’s record of 2.7 million barrels per year, but that does so,” he said. “The daily production of 4 million barrels of oil is a challenging goal,
but the average daily production of 2.7 million barrels this year
will be more realistic,” he also pointed out.
Wataniya group and the development programs
Technically speaking, Iraq has ambitious plans to develop its oil fields and
increase its oil production. Despite the lack of a hydrocarbon law,
the Iraqi Ministry of Oil signed long-term contracts with international
oil companies between November 2008 and May 2010. In the first phase,
the companies made proposals to further develop the huge Iraqi oil fields
that are currently under production. In the second phase, they have
signed contracts for the development of oil fields that have already been
explored but are not fully developed or have not reached commercial production. Besides, the contracts signed for both phases cover over 60 billion
barrels of proven oil fields.
If the grand development plans for the fields are in progress,
Iraq’s total oil production capacity will increase to about 12 million barrels
per day, which is more than 9 million barrels per day more than the
country’s production level in 2012. According to the signed contracts,
they considered 2017 the year of achieving the above goals. Although in the
re-examinations, the Iraqis have reconsidered their production targets
and reportedly agreed to increase their capacity to 9.5 million barrels per
day in 2017, according to the US Center for Energy Studies and most
oil exports and the institute.
Wataniya group and the financial programs
Even these revised targets are overly optimistic, given the repeated delays in
the development of Iraq’s energy infrastructure. Iraq faces many challenges
in achieving the goals of the planned timetable for increasing oil production. Problems with the maintenance of Iraq’s oil fields and ports and
insufficient infrastructure have hampered the steady export of Iraqi oil,
and Asian refineries are grappling with doubts about the country’s oil supply.
As a matter of fact, Iraq is a country that needs to develop its dilapidated
energy infrastructure and increase its oil production to register its position
as a major oil producer in the world. Meanwhile, the problems and limitations
of the country’s oil export bottlenecks and the destructive attacks on oil
export facilities and pipelines from Kirkuk to Turkey have prevented
Baghdad from achieving its production targets set in 2013. According to Reuters, international oil companies did not welcome the fourth round of Iraqi
tenders because of the unattractiveness of the terms of Iraq’s oil
contracts, and this round of tenders had only three winners.
Wataniya group and Iraq’s decisions
Needless to mention that Iraq has already held two rounds of oil tenders
and one round of gas tenders, in which it has ceded the right to develop
and extract 8 oil fields and 5 gas fields to international oil companies.
The refining capacity of Iraq and the Wataniya group
It’s important to note that this section includes refineries owned and
controlled by the Iraqi government. According to BP estimates in 2012,
Iraq’s nominal refining capacity is 924,000 barrels per day. However,
since in most cases the effective capacity is less than the nominal
capacity, different estimates have appeared in this regard. In recent years,
the Iraqi government has planned to make more investments to meet
the shortage of fuel resources and increase the capacity of its refineries
by imposing favorable conditions for the activities of international
companies operating in refineries. Moreover, Iraq plans to increase
its oil refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels per day.
Wataniya group and Iraq’s government
In 2009, the Iraqi government signed contracts to design four new refineries
with an investment of $24.5 billion as part of the government’s plan
to compensate for fuel shortages and increase refining capacity. Additionally, the refinery will add up to 740,000 barrels per day to Iraq’s refining capacity. In addition, the country has a set of refineries that the Iraqi government
seeks to develop and strengthen its refining capacity.
It’s also good to know that the first contract is for the design of the
Al-Nasiriyah refinery with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, which was
signed in January 2009 by Foster Wheeler. Subsequently, the French
company Technip won the second contract for the construction of the
refinery, the “India” refinery with a production capacity of 140,000
barrels per day in the central region of Iraq, near the main Karbala-Najaf
road in southern Baghdad.
As the last point, the third and fourth refineries, each with a production
capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, belong to the provinces of Kirkuk in the
north and Maysan in southern Iraq, where Stone & Webster won the
Basic Design Contract (FEED).