Iraq’s MOC flexes muscles

Missan Oil Company, the national oil company overseeing production in Iraq’s Maysan province, will develop the Howaiza field in 2017, the Ministry of Oil said on Tuesday.

Also spelled as Huwaiza or Hawizeh, the field straddles Iraq-Iran border at the northern tip of the like-named marshes. It is located to the east of PetroChina’s Halfaya field. According to the Ministry of Oil, the Howaiza field holds estimated reserves of 219 million barrels and has a production potential of between 20,000 and 30,000 bopd.

Preparations for field development were first made in the 1970s and a well was drilled right before the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran war in September 1980. Crude is believed to have a API gravity range of 20-30 degrees and derives from the Nahr Umr reservoir.

Last month, Missan Oil Company and China National Offshore Oil Corporation issued a tender for a drilling rig and associated services for 13 horizontal wells. The Chinese company operates the so-called Missan oilfield complex, comprising the Abu Ghirab, Fauqi and Buzurgan fields. Output there is steady at 130,000 but the complex has the capacity to produce an additional 15,000 bopd.