Halfaya oilfield development works start next month – official

MISSAN / IraqiNews.com: Foreign companies that won a contract to develop al-Halfaya oilfield will start working in February, according to a local official in Missan province on Saturday. “The CNPC, Total and Petronas companies will start upgrading the Halfaya oilfield, (25 km) east of al-Amara city in February,” Amer Nasrallah, the chairman of the Missan Provincial Council’s energy committee, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “A delegation led by the director general of the Chinese Oil Company, who is in charge of Iraq oil contracts, had paid a field visit to Halfaya within preparations to start developing the oilfield,” said Nasrallah. He said the provincial council and the Missan Oil Company have expressed full readiness to cooperate with the three foreign firms and provide logistical support and security so as to make their job easier in the oilfield. “The estimated reserve of Halfaya is 16 billion out of a total 30 billion barrels, which is the overall reserves of oilfields in Missan,” he added. The Iraqi oil ministry had signed in Baghdad on Wednesday a final contract with a consortium comprising China’s CNPC, France’s Total and Malaysia’s Petronas to rehabilitate the Halfaya oilfield in Missan as part of the second round of oil licenses. Amara, the capital city of Missan province, lies 390 km south of Baghdad. AmR (P) 4