Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 -- Iraqi oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani, fresh from a tour of Asia, expects his country to produce 3 million b/d of crude oil by yearend and, with fresh investment, some 4.5 million b/d by 2010.
He said Iraq produced an average of 2.3 million b/d in October, and exported 1.6-1.7 million b/d despite 2-3 insurgent attacks/week on the country's pipelines.
Sharistani has just returned from a tour of Asian countries where he won support for increased investment in Iraq's oil industry, in particular from China and Japan.
In China, he brokered an agreement with the China National Petroleum Corp. for new exploration rights over al-Ahdab field in southern Iraq. He said a joint Iraqi-Chinese committee will hold meetings in Baghdad, beginning on Nov. 11, to determine how to develop the oil field.
In June 1997 China signed a $700 million contract to explore al-Ahdab over 23 years. Plans originally called for 90,000 b/d of oil production, but field development was suspended due to UN sanctions on Iraq and to security problems since the beginning of the US-led war in 2002.
Al-Ahdab field, in the middle and southern regions of Iraq, has estimated reserves of as much as 1 billion bbl of crude oil and is considered commercially viable, especially because of its proximity to existing pipelines and refineries.
During Sharastani's swing through Asia, he also held talks with Sinopec Group and CNOOC to seek more energy investment in Iraq once the new Iraqi energy investment law is approved.
In Japan, Shahristani said, the government promised to give a soft loan of $3.5 billion to help Iraq build a refinery and a floating loading platform off Basra in the Persian Gulf.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
