Senior executive directors of Royal Dutch Shell Plc had advance sight some days ago of a draft of the article below. It is a follow-up article by a whistleblower whose identity is known to us.

Under Shell’s egregious stewardship, Iraq is literally burning billions of dollars in lost revenue, and the country’s power plants are being deprived of the much-needed fuel supply to end Iraq’s chronic power crisis.  The power outages have been the main destabilizing force in the country, which have also often led to mass protesting, civil unrest, and countless civilian casualties.    

By: The Iraqi Governance Revolt & Systemic Overhaul!

Introduction

Iraq holds the 12th largest natural gas reserve in the world, however, the country equally represents 12% of global gas flaring, “suggesting there may be systematic and structural barriers to reducing gas flaring practices,” according to the latest Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report produced by The World Bank Group.

Although officially signed in 2011, Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) formalized the establishment of its gas monopoly in Iraq, the $17 billion Basrah Gas Company (BGC), in May 2013, which also gave birth to the so called ‘world’s largest flare reduction program’. 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). read more

Reuters Staff: MARCH 23, 2018

(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. 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. 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

Aref Mohammed

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq has approved the sale by Royal Dutch Shell of the company’s 20 percent stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oilfield to Japan’s Itochu Corp, a senior Iraqi oil official said on Wednesday.

The deal comes as the Anglo-Dutch company agreed to exit the Majnoon oil venture, one of the largest fields in OPEC member Iraq, and hand over its operation to the state-run Basra Oil Co. (BOC) by the end of June 2018.

“Shell sold its stake in West Qurna 1 to Itochu and the oil ministry approved it. We met with Itochu and discussed the required financial investments and operations at the field,” Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, the head of state-run BOC, told Reuters in an interview.  read more

By Tsvetana Paraskova – Nov 22, 2017, 4:00 PM CST

In a bid to reduce gas flaring and pay off outstanding reparations for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Iraq has hired Japanese firm Toyo Engineering to help it build a gas pipeline to Kuwait, in what could be a blow to Shell’s gas ambitions in Iraq, industry sources tell Reuters.

Kuwait is looking to diversify its gas imports from Qatar after several Arab states led by Saudi Arabia severed ties with Qatar earlier this year accusing it of sponsoring terrorism. read more

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. read more

• It would not be “unreasonable” to forecast oil at $60 a barrel at the end of the decade, said Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden
• Oil supply was more unpredictable than demand, van Beurden added

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. 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

FILE PHOTO: A view of Iraq’s Majnoon oilfield in Basra, 420 km (261 miles) southeast of Baghdad, October 6, 2013. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo

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.” read more

Jaclyn Jaeger | Extracts from article published Sept 19, 2017

Italian oil giant Eni in a public filing this month revealed further details about what corruption allegations and investigations its facing around the world.

Corruption allegations against Eni now include Nigeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Congo. The number of enforcement authorities, employees, and subsidiaries involved in these allegations has also grown.

Block OPL 245 — Nigeria. Eni first mentioned allegations of international corruption in a Form 6-K (Report of Foreign Issuer) in 2014. In that report, the company said that it had been served with a notice of investigation in July 2014 by the Italian Public Prosecutor in Milan “relating to potential liability on the part of Eni arising from alleged international corruption.” read more

By Cyril Widdershoven – Sep 16, 2017, 6:00 PM CDT

Supermajor Royal Dutch Shell has decided to divest its Iraqi oil assets in a move to focus on its future in natural gas.

The industry giant is seemingly breaking from its oil heritage to head full speed into the “Golden Age of Gas.” Shell’s decision to leave Iraq’s upstream oil assets is not without risk, however, as the market for natural gas is even more oversupplied than it is for crude oil.

Reuters reported the move first, based on a letter from the Iraqi ministry of oil, followed by a confirmation from Shell. The Dutch heavyweight indicated to the press that its oil asset divestment in Iraq is in line with its strategy to focus more on natural gas and downstream activities. read more

Ron Bousso: SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is set to end a century of oil production in Iraq by withdrawing from two of the Arab state’s flagship fields to focus on more profitable gas development.

Shell’s retreat highlights the challenges foreign operators face with low-margin oil contracts in Iraq, an OPEC member that sits on some of the world’s biggest oil reserves and wants to boost production after years of conflict hindered development.

The Anglo-Dutch firm said on Wednesday it had agreed with Iraq’s oil ministry to relinquish operations at Majnoon field to the government after unfavorable changes to fiscal terms. The announcement confirmed an earlier Reuters report. read more

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017 / 7:52 AM

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil major Royal Dutch/Shell said on Wednesday it would focus its efforts on the development and growth of the Basra Gas Company in Iraq after handing over operations of the Majnoon oil venture back to the Iraqi government.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Shell Iraq has started preparations to finalize the exit of Shell from Majnoon, one of the largest fields in the country.

“In May 2017, the ministry of oil in Iraq applied the performance penalty and remuneration factor on the Shell operated venture, the Majnoon oil field, which had a significant impact on its commerciality,” a Shell spokesman said. read more

The end is nigh?

I’m sure most drivers stuck on the world’s largest car park, the M25, would agree that more people should use public transport. But few are prepared to make the change themselves. I think by now you’re probably getting my point. Most of us want to live in a better world, but we look to others to make the necessary sacrifices.

It’s for this reason that I don’t believe the end is nigh for fossil fuels. That really matters to companies like  and Royal Dutch Shell. In fact I’ve been listening to experts harping on about the end of our reliance on fossil fuels ever since I was a child. And believe me, that was a very long time ago. read more

The Motley Fool: 3 big questions hanging over Royal Dutch Shell plc

By The Motley Fool  Feb 14, 2017

A stagnating oil price has seen investor appetite for Royal Dutch Shell(LSE: RDSB) seep away from recent multi-year highs.

The crude colossus saw its share price strike its highest since November 2014 a month ago, but fresh fundamental fears have seen Shell — like many of its London-quoted peers — retrace more recently.

Shale producers returning

Arguably the biggest driver behind Shell’s decline has been a steady build in the US rig count.

With drillers across the Atlantic becoming ever-more-comfortable with oil prices anchored around the $50 per barrel mark, the number of units in operation has been steadily increasing since the autumn. read more

Shell has signed a $210 million contract with Halliburton to drill 30 wells in Iraq’s Majnoon oil field, two oil sources said on Thursday.

The agreement will double the field’s production after three years, the sources said.

Shell, the operator of the giant Majnoon field in southern Iraq, could not be reached immediately for comment.

Majnoon’s output should rise to about 400,000 barrels per day in three years, from 220,000 bpd now, according to the sources.

(Reporting by Aref Mohammed and Saif Hameed; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Susan Fenton) read more

By Nick Cunningham – Jan 03, 2017, 3:07 PM CST

Oil prices are rising and the industry is poised for a rebound, with U.S. shale spending set to soar in 2017. But for Royal Dutch Shell, this year will be much more mundane as years of high spending and ballooning deficits force the Anglo-Dutch oil major to retrench.

Even as the New Year promises to bring a sharp improvement in the finances of oil companies across the world, including Shell, not everyone will approach the rebound in the oil market in the same way. Smaller U.S. shale companies, with assets concentrated in some highly profitable areas such as the Permian, are planning to sharply increase spending and drilling. But the oil majors are less nimble, having assets diversified upstream and downstream, spread out across the globe. They were able to weather the oil price downturn better than their smaller peers, but they respond much more slowly to fluctuations in the oil market. That stability is a feature for many investors looking to avoid volatility, but it also means that 2017 may not bring much excitement from the majors. read more

By Julianne Geiger – Nov 28, 2016, 2:24 PM CST

Royal Dutch Shell is considering exiting its positions in Iraqi oil fields, according to industry sources cited by Reuters.

Shell, which declined to comment, is the world’s top liquefied natural gas producer, and is only exiting its oil field assets in Iraq, not its gas field assets. Iraq accounted for 4.4 percent of Shell’s total oil and gas production in 2015.

The fields in question are the Majnoon field, in which Shell holds a 45 percent interest, and the West Qurna field. Majnoon produces an average of 200,000 barrels per day, according to Shell’s website. read more

By Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler | VIENNA

OPEC was trying on Monday to rescue a deal to limit oil output as tensions grew among the producer group and non-OPEC member Russia, with top exporter Saudi Arabia saying markets would rebalance even without an agreement.

OPEC experts started a meeting in Vienna at 0900 GMT and were due to make recommendations to their ministers on how exactly the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should reduce production when it meets on Nov. 30. read more

By Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler | DUBAI/LONDON

Old disputes between Saudi Arabia and rival Iran resurfaced at a meeting of OPEC experts last week, with Riyadh threatening to raise oil output steeply to bring prices down if Tehran refuses to limit its supply, OPEC sources say.

Clashes between the two OPEC heavyweights, which are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, have become frequent in recent years.

Tensions subsided, however, in recent months after Saudi Arabia agreed to support a global oil supply limiting pact, thus raising the prospect that OPEC would take steps to boost oil prices. read more

By REUTERS: PUBLISHED: 14:40, 31 October 2016

By Rania El Gamal

DUBAI, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell and trading house Vitol are stepping up their operations in the port of Fujairah to store Iraqi crude as production from the OPEC member rises, industry sources said.

Iraq is OPEC’s second largest producer after Saudi Arabia and its output has almost doubled since the start of the decade at 4.7 million barrels per day (bpd).

With a target of 5.5-6 million bpd by 2020, Iraq wants to be exempt from the cartel’s bid to boost oil prices with production cuts to reduce a global surplus. read more

By Royston Wild – Friday, 7 October, 2016

Stakeholders in fossil fuel goliath Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB) could be forgiven for breaking out the bubbly following the company’s recent share price detonation.

Shell saw its value gallop 28% higher during the third quarter, and the firm’s meteoric ascent may not be finished yet — indeed, the stock is within striking distance of July’s quarterly peak of £21.48 per share, the loftiest level since May 2015.

But while many momentum investors may be tempted to plough in, I reckon now could provide a terrific opportunity for investors to cash out. read more

Iraq’s OPEC revolt shows Saudi-Iran oil deal fragility

By Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler | ALGIERS

For years, debates in the OPEC conference room were dominated by clashes between top producer Saudi Arabia and arch-rival Iran.

But as the two managed to find a rare compromise on Wednesday – with Riyadh softening its stance towards Tehran – a third OPEC superpower emerged.

Iraq overtook Iran as the group’s second-largest producer several years ago but kept its OPEC agenda fairly low-profile. On Wednesday, Baghdad finally made its presence felt. read more

By Ed Crooks: September 16, 2016

The more positive mood in crude prices last week always looked fragile, based as it was on nebulous talk about a possible Opec production freeze and volatile US data that were heavily influenced by storm Hermine at the beginning of the month.

That vulnerability was exposed this week. Brent crude, which briefly hit $50 per barrel on September 8, dropped below $46 on Friday.

As prices fell, analysts took differing views on the outlook. Bloomberg focused on the chance of a rebound, as markets started to focus on the growing risk of shortages. On the other hand, the FT’s Neil Hume pointed out that there was still more crude production capacity set to come on stream as a result of the investment binge of 2011-14 – not least the much delayed Kashagan field in Kazakhstan – meaning that prices could remain depressed in the short term. read more

By Ed Crooks: September 9, 2016

“Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet,” St Augustine wrote in his Confessions, remembering his prayer as an adolescent. Opec members are taking much the same attitude to restraining their oil production.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s two largest crude producers, said on Monday they would co-operate on ways to stabilise oil prices, but stopped short of agreeing to freeze production. There will be a working group to study ways to curb price volatility, and co-operation on production curbs was held out as a possibility. But Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, was clearly in no hurry to make any commitments. read more

Sarfaraz A. Khan: Aug. 31, 2016 3:20 PM ET

Summary

• Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its Brutus/Glider assets in the U.S. GoM to EnVen Energy for $425 million in cash.
• The asset sale is a small step in the right direction which will improve Shell’s cash reserves.
• The company, however, has made little progress toward achieving its target of selling $6Bn to $8Bn assets this year and $30Bn by 2018.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has recently agreed to sell its Brutus/Glider assets in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to Houston-based EnVen Energy for $425 million in cash. Shell was pumping 25,000 barrels of oil per day from these offshore properties, which was equivalent to 5.8% of the oil giant’s Gulf of Mexico production or less than 1% of its total production.

The asset sale is a small step in the right direction which will improve Shell’s cash reserves which stood at $15.2 billion at the end of June. Shell intends to sell $6 billion to $8 billion of assets this year. Overall, the company aims to dispose $30 billion of assets, spread in 5 to 10 countries and representing 10% of its production, by 2018. That will allow the company to reduce its debt which has ballooned following the $53 billion takeover of BG Group. read more

Mon Aug 29, 2016 2:01pm EDT

By Karolin Schaps | STAVANGER, NORWAY

The huge global oil oversupply that has weighed on prices for the past two years may not clear until the second half of 2017, Shell’s chief energy adviser Wim Thomas told Reuters.

The potential return to the market of some 1.5 million barrels per day of supply from Libya and Nigeria and uncertainty about Iranian and Iraqi production levels could push a rebalancing further away than many in the oil industry are hoping. read more

Exclusive: Iraq, oil companies agree to restart investment, boost output

BAGHDAD/BASRA – | BY AHMED RASHEED AND AREF MOHAMMED: Business | Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:05am EDT

Iraq has reached agreement with BP, Shell and Lukoil to restart stalled investment in oil fields the firms are developing, allowing projects that were halted this year to resume and crude production to increase in 2017, Iraqi oil officials said.

The agreements, reached in July and August, effectively delay to the second half of the year projects that the three companies had planned to carry out in the first half, which had been suspended because of low oil prices. read more

By Ed Crooks: 8 July 2016

The most eye-catching story of the week was the estimate from Rystad Energy that the US holds the world’s largest oil reserves. As the table in Rystad’s press release shows, that calculation relies heavily on “undiscovered fields” in the US that have yet be found. In terms of proved reserves in existing fields, Saudi Arabia still has more than twice as much oil as the US, according to Rystad’s estimates. John Kemp of Reuters discussed the meaning of the varying figures for Saudi Arabia’s reserves, concluding: “No-one really knows how much more oil can be recovered from beneath the Saudi desert and adjoining areas in the Gulf.” read more

British officials held talks with BP and Shell about Iraqi oil

Blair said high oil price was his big “domestic worry”

By Javier Blas: July 6, 2016 — 4:27 PM BST

The U.K. government held talks with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc to ensure British energy companies were “well-placed to pick up contracts in the aftermath” of the invasion of Iraq, according to declassified documents released as part of an official inquiry.

Although the report, overseen by former civil servant John Chilcot, doesn’t explicitly say oil played a role in the war, documents publish on Wednesday show British officials discussed how to obtain “substantial business for U.K. companies” in the energy sector. read more

By Wilda Asmarini: Markets | Wed Jun 29, 2016 

Indonesia’s Pertamina has selected Shell to process a million barrels per month of Iraqi crude at a Singapore refinery, a senior official at the state-owned company said on Wednesday.

The quest for oil-processing capacity abroad is partly spurred by a lack of investor interest in building domestic refineries because of unfavourable investment conditions set by the government.

“We’ve selected Shell because they are the most competitive,” said Daniel Purba, senior vice president of Pertamina’s Integrated Supply Chain unit. read more

Written by Reporter – 23/05/2016 2:28 pm

Oil major Shell is said to be reducing its workforce at the Majnoon oilfield in Southern Iraq as the country continues to manage a number of financial pressures.

The field has an estimated recoverable reserves of almost 13 billion barrels.

It has managed to provide significant financial funds for the Iraqi government in recent years since exporting began.

According to reports, the expatriate workforce has been reduced from 400 to 200 workers.

A Shell spokesman said the move had been taken in “light of the economic challenges” facing the region. read more

Anthony McAuley: May 21, 2016

Royal Dutch Shell is cutting its workforce sharply at the Majnoon oilfield near Basra in southern Iraq as the government’s financial woes deepen.

Majnoon is one of the five “supergiant” (containing more than 5 billion barrels) oilfields located in southern Iraq, with estimated recoverable reserves of nearly 13 billion barrels, and it has been a major provider of additional funds for the Iraqi government since it started exporting two years ago.

The field employed more than 3,000 at peak construction – three-quarters of whom were Iraqis. But the expatriate workforce had dwindled to 400 amid cutbacks as the government has struggled with both the collapse in oil prices over the past 18 months and the costs of the war with militants in the west of the country. read more

By Ed Crooks: April 29, 2016

When Saudi Arabia’s oil minister raises an eyebrow, the world pays attention. So when the kingdom launched a hugely ambitious economic reform programme this week, it naturally attracted enormous interest.

The FT in an editorial praised what it described as “a bold bid to transform Saudi Arabia’s economy”, but highlighted the challenges Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would face in making his vision a reality. Simeon Kerr and Anjli Raval described the plans as “highly ambitious – some would say unrealistic”. read more

Ed Crooks: 22 April 2016

They wanted a freeze, but all they got was a wash-out. The 18 oil-producing countries that met in Doha on Sunday were supposed to finalise an agreement to hold production at January’s levels, but instead the meeting broke up in acrimony and recriminations. John Kemp at Reuters suggested Saudi Arabia was turning the “oil weapon” on its rival Iran.

The FT’s Roula Khalaf wrote that the failure of the talks highlighted the rise of Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s 30 year-old deputy crown prince. His growing influence and the waning authority of veteran oil minister Ali al-Naimi add a new element of unpredictability to Saudi policy.  Bloomberg Business Week had a long and fascinating interview with Prince Mohammed. As President Barack Obama visited Saudi Arabia, David Gardner wrote that the kingdom’s 70-year bargain with the US, promising security in return for a steady flow of oil, was becoming frayed. read more

By Nick Goodway: 19 April 2016

My eye was caught yesterday by a document from Royal Dutch Shell snappily entitled Report on Payments to Governments for 2015. (I know, I don’t lead a very exciting life.) This is one of the myriad new reports that corporates are forced to release each year in the interests of greater transparency and good governance.

But for once, alongside the hundreds of such reports I have binned, there was some interesting stuff here. In short, the report details how much Shell paid to each government in the countries in which it operates in terms of their share of production, royalties, taxes and fees. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: MARCH 20, 2016

BAGHDAD — Iraq on Sunday exported the first shipment of natural gas in its history, a key development for the OPEC member struggling to feed a cash-strapped economy amid an expensive fight against the Islamic State group.

The move revives a long-sought ambition by Iraq to be a gas exporter, thanks to a joint venture with Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. Iraq first planned to begin exporting gas in the late 1970s, but that timeline was delayed by the Iraq-Iran war when Iraqi export ports were bombed. read more

By ANDREW SCOTT COOPER: A version of this op-ed appears in print on March 13, 2016

FOR the past half-century, the world economy has been held hostage by just one country: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Vast petroleum reserves and untapped production allowed the kingdom to play an outsize role as swing producer, filling or draining the global system at will.

The 1973-74 oil embargo was the first demonstration that the House of Saud was willing to weaponize the oil markets. In October 1973, a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia abruptly halted oil shipments in retaliation for America’s support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The price of a barrel of oil quickly quadrupled; the resulting shock to the oil-dependent economies of the West led to a sharp rise in the cost of living, mass unemployment and growing social discontent. read more

The price tumbled as much as 3 per cent during trading yesterday when it emerged Iraq had produced a record high of oil and may even raise output further.

The news comes as the market is already braced for more supply from Iran after sanctions were lifted. 

Tankers have begun to leave Iran’s ports and it agreed its first deal with a European company last week with Greece’s refinery Hellenic Petroleum. 

Some analysts expect Iran to increase production to between 3million and 4million barrels a day. Iraq’s fields produced more than 4.1million barrels a day. read more

Oil prices tumbled again on Monday, eroding last week’s gains, as Opec called for co-operation from oil-producing nations outside the cartel.

Brent crude fell 4.1% to $30.86 a barrel following a 10% rise on Friday, while US oil shed 4.7% to $30.68.

The slide came as the head of Opec called for all oil-producing nations to work together.

Abdullah al-Badri said both Opec and non-Opec oil producers needed to tackle oversupply to help prices rise.

“It is vital the market addresses the issue of the stock overhang. As you can see from previous cycles, once this overhang starts falling then prices start to rise,” he told a conference in London. read more

By Tyler Durden

Extracts from extracts…

Could oil prices collapse to $20? 

The short answer is ‘yes.’

We believe that crude oil prices could fall further unless global oil production is reduced. As shown in Table 2, we estimate that the global oil market could be oversupplied by roughly 920,000 bpd in 2016. The key assumptions are year-over-year growth in global demand of 1.2 million bpd, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya hold production at current levels, Iran ramps up production at moderate pace over the course of the year and the U.S. rig count remains at current levels. read more

By Khalid Al Ansary: September 15, 2015

Iraq asked oil companies to reduce their 2016 spending plans in the country by Sept. 30, citing lower oil prices and government revenue.

The reduced budgets shouldn’t affect 2015 production, Abdul Mahdy Al-Ameedi, director of licensing at Iraq’s oil ministry, said by phone Tuesday, citing a letter that the ministry sent to companies. Iraq is now producing more than 3 million barrels a day, he said.

“We’ve asked them in a letter we sent them to take into consideration the drop in oil prices and the low revenues of the government that may not cover their investments,” al-Ameedi said. “There was a stipulation that this investment reduction must not affect oil output from the fields that was in the 2015 schedule.” read more

Shell’s Arctic voyage marks beginning of peak oil era

Anglo-Dutch company’s search for resources in the Arctic is a sign that the world is running out of options for new oil reserves

By Andrew Critchlow, Commodities editor

In his critically acclaimed 2005 book ‘Twilight in the Desert’, the prominent oil economist Matthew R. Simmons predicted that Saudi Arabia’s oil wells would soon run dry.

His argument was based on the age of the seven main fields, which the kingdom still to this day depends upon to pump the bulk of its 10m barrels per day (bpd) of crude. These fields in the main have been producing for over a generation and, despite official figures placing Saudi Arabia’s proven reserves at over 260bn barrels, Mr Simmons argued that the kingdom would struggle to increase its output to keep pace with the projected increases in the demand over the next half century marking the beginning of a period known as “peak oil”. read more

Simon Henry, CFO, Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Article by Daniel Adugbo published 1 May 2015 by AllAfrica.com

Shell Rules Out Divestment in Nigeria, Others This Year

Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it had reduced its expected 2015 capital expenditure (capex) to $33 billion from $35 billion as the company continues to adjust its business to the lower oil-price.

Releasing its first-quarter results yesterday, Shell’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Simon Henry said the capex this year would be $33 billion, or “potentially less,” a reduction of at least $2 billion compared with guidance given by Shell three months ago.

Henry said that it had highlighted a number of projects where it could reduce its financial exposure, including the Majnoon project in Iraq and Carmon Creek in Canada. read more

Shell cuts 2015 capex, sees downstream downturn

London (Platts)–30 Apr 2015

* Capex reduced by more than $2 billion
* Decision on Majnoon development pushed back to 2017
* CFO says refining margins already worsening

Shell said Thursday it had reduced its expected 2015 capital expenditure to $33 billion from previous guidance of a little more than $35 billion as the company continues to adjust its business to the lower oil-price environment.

Shell, releasing its first-quarter results, also said it continued to reduce its operating costs and capital spending, with Q1 operating expenditure down by $1.1 billion year on year. read more

* Iraq seeks to stem losses from falling oil prices

* Calls on firms to reduce development costs

* Baghdad seeks amended contracts to “share risk”

* Says companies should maintain output despite changes

MR_Story By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, March 12 ( Reuters ) – Oil companies have proposed millions of dollars of cuts in development spending in Iraq, a senior oil ministry official said, after Baghdad told them low oil prices and its fight against Islamic State had made payments difficult. read more