Chinese oil delegation visits Iraq late Oct.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A high-level Chinese oil delegation is visiting Iraq late this month to sign a contract over al-Ahdab field, according to the official spokesman for the Iraqi oil ministry. “The signing is pertaining to the development of al-Ahdab oilfield after the cabinet had initialed the deal last August and later ratified it in September,” Asem Jihad told IraqiNews.com. “The contract has officially entered into effect after the cabinet approval and now the Chinese side has to start installing equipment and machines in two months’ time,” he said. “The agreement held that drilling activities in this field have to be horizontal, not vertical, so that the oil wells would not encroach upon nearby farmlands,” Jihad pointed out. The field, which includes seven discovered wells, is expected to produce 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), to be pumped through a pipeline to the al-Nassiriya pumping stations and then on to the export harbors in southern Iraq. The ministry had recently embarked on a plan to attract foreign corporations to invest in Iraq ‘s oil sector with the aim of upping production to 4-405 million bpd by the advent of 2010, provided that the explored wells, numbering 80, are upgraded. Al-Ahdab lies in the district of al-Ahrar, (25 km) western Wassit province, 180 km southeast Baghdad . One of Iraq ‘s wells that are not invested, al-Ahdabm if developed, will hopefully reach a production capacity of 200,000 bpd. At present, al-Ahdab oilfield, discovered in 1979, boasts a reserve of 225 million barrels. AmR (S) 1