Iraq’s oil ministry revealed yesterday that its state oil companies have struck oil at the Missan field, in what oil minister Abdul Kareem Al-Luaibi has described as the South Oil Company’s biggest achivement in 30 years.
According to an AK News report, Al-Luaibi told a press conference in Baghdad “Iraqi Oil Company and the Southern Oil Company have been able to make a big achievement… by finding oil in al-Dima field in Missan province [south east of Baghdad bordering Iran] though the ministry did not expect the discovery of oil in the field.”
Luaibi – who declined to give a reserves estimate for the field – said oil was struck at a depth of 2,300 metres. The size of the field is currently being estimated. Drilling continues to a depth of 3,000 meters.
Middle East oil analyst Ruba Husari says the Dima field was initially discovered in the 1980s but was not drilled at the time as it was too close to the border between Iraq and Iran.
The news will be a boon to the Missan province, one of the poorest in Iraq. China’s CNOOC and Petronas are currently at work in the province.
The news comes ahead of the fourth bidding round, where for the first time the oil licensing directorate will be auctioning fields for exploration, and seeking to avoid the disappointing results of previous rounds for field development contracts, when stringent contractual terms and security risk kept many companies away.
