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Ministry of Oil holds a
Press conference to refute the allegations launched against the Iraqi
minister of oil.
A press conference was held at the ministry of oil and was steered by
two director generals namely Dr. Falah Al-Amiri of SOMO (Oil Marketing
co.,) and Mr. Idrees Al-Yasiri of the Iraqi Drilling Co in order to
highlight on the investigation of the Iraqi Oil Minister before the
Iraqi Parliament.
Al-Yasiri said that Iraqi Drilling Company like any other government
facilities were subject to looting and destruction in the post 2003 era
, and by the dire efforts of the Iraqi technicians ,drilling rigs
witnessed a comprehensive work over process which enhanced the
performance of the company to drill around (110) wells and work over of
(465)wells from 2006 up to date ,nine rigs were re-habilitated and
restored to operation ;five drilling rigs and four work over ones
besides purchasing 24 drilling rigs in 2007-2008 whereby six rigs were
entered into actual operations.
The efforts of the company were credited by the Iraqi Prime Minister as
well as by the Iraqi Minister of oil through letters of appreciation and
appraisal for the efforts of the company and their staff.
Iraqi Drilling company has also been dealing with well-reputed companies
to provide advanced technology and it is worth noting that the rig which
fell down was too old and it was modified to serve as a drilling rig
with some added auxiliaries and was used in Al-Qurna field, this fallen
rig was not at all one of the newly contracted rigs.
Al-Yasiri also elaborated on the generators which do not operate below
25 degrees Celsius; (Caterpillar) the generators company supplier
confirmed the fitness and eligibility of those generators to operate
under 55 degrees Celsius and they were operating in the southern regions
of Iraq in summer.
Al-Yasiri also talked about the rigs capacity of 2000 horses supplied
by the drill Mick Co, the rig arrived Meesan Governorate and were under
operation to enhance the performance of drilling (43) wells and to reach
the target of (50)wells then(150) wells by the year 2010 which will
witness a noticeable production jump.
Al-Yasiri reiterated the fact that in case of any fraud documents or any
legal breach proven in the documents submitted by the foreign companies,
all business formalities with such companies shall be annulled at once;
control authorities shall be notified accordingly until obtaining the
final legal evidence of the fitness of those companies as well as
claiming for a comprehensive investigation in the documents confirming
that there is no waste in public assets.
Dr. Falah Al-Amiri of (SOMO) Oil Marketing Co., pointed out the
mechanism of selling the Iraqi crude oil by allocating quotas for well
–reputed international companies from Asian ,American and European
origins ; those companies submit their requests of SOMO for such deals
and there are certain terms and procedures the companies should abide by
,that the companies must be fully integrated from upstream to downstream
activities, medium and small size companies should work only as
refineries, besides giant companies that are designed by their countries
on behalf of the refineries; and elaborating that Iraqi crude oil is
sold only and exclusively to well-reputed companies and not to
commercial companies, the eligibility of those companies are confirmed
and certified in co-ordination with the office of the inspector general
,there are also two types of companies the qualified and the
nonqualified which should be fully examined to meet the strict
conditions SOMO declared for the eligibility of those companies
;.documents shall be later submitted to the allocation committee which
comprise of representatives from the technical ,economic and the
inspector general depts. These requests shall be closely looked into and
recommendations shall be submitted to the ministerial commission
presided by the Minister of Oil.
It is worth noting that 80% of the international oil companies have been
working with Iraq since 2003 taking into account that Iraq and Saudi
Arabia are the only countries that sell to 25 international companies.
In July 2008 a considerable step was adopted as a result of using the
meters system to measure crude oil, after having dropped the
conventional mechanism of measuring which was legally certified by the
United Nations then.
Dr. Al-Amiri also confirmed the non existence of mediators in the
business transactions of selling crude oil since those deals are under
scrutiny and strict control and inspection.,
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