Royal Dutch Shell Group .com Rotating Header Image

London Evening Standard: Shell ready to return to Iraq after 35 years

Nick Goodway, Evening Standard
12 April 2007

Shell is set to become the first oil major to return to war-torn Iraq since the nationalisation of the country’s oil industry 35 years ago. 

The Anglo-Dutch group is close to announcing a partnership with the Turkish state oil business TPAO to build a gas export pipeline and reopen gas extraction in the northern republic of Kurdistan.

The pipeline is believed to run alongside an existing one which connects the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan with the giant Iraqi oilfield in Kirkuk. A Shell spokesman said the company has yet to sign any contracts but admitted it had been in talks about re-entering Iraq.

Shell was one of the biggest players in Iraq from the 1920s right up until nationalisation of the oil industry by Saddam Hussein in 1972.

The US administration has been running the country’s oil industry since the invasion in 2003 but the Iraq government is poised to pass new legislation designed to encourage international oil and gas companiesto resume exploration and production in the country.

Last month Shell’s Matthias Bichsel, a senior exploration executive, confirmed that the company had met Iraqi officials in Oman, where Shell has a large gas project, to discuss plans for rebuilding Iraq’s gas industry. The company has also reportedly held talks over carrying out oilfield development in Kirkuk in the north and in the Maysan oilfield in the south.

Kurdistan oil minister Ashti Harwani has said he hopes to grant up to ten exploration and production licences for the region by the end of this year.

Shell said its re-entry to Iraq had always been conditional on free elections, ratification of oil and gas legislation and the security of its people.

A spokesman said neither the second nor third conditions had yet been met. He said: ‘Shell is exploring various opportunities to monetise Iraq’s gas through exports to gas markets around the world. We are also committed to creating a domestic energy infrastructure alongside that to support Iraq’s domestic power generation.’

Kurdistan remains one of the least-explored regions in the oilrich Middle East. Analysts estimate it has anything from 12bn to 45bn barrels of oil and up to 100 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The region is seen by most Western companies as one of the safest parts of Iraq and probably the best way back into the war-torn country.

BG, BP, Exxon, Chevron and Total are said to be interested in taking stakes in the Iraqi industry.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Comments are closed.