MP calls to rehabilitate oil fields

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Water separation units at oil wells that operate by water injection systems require rehabilitation, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s oil and gas committee said on Saturday, explaining that the produced crude oil comes mixed with water. “The quality of the Iraqi crude oil is less than its counterparts for this reason,” Jabbir Khaleefa Jabbir, a lawmaker of the Fadila Party, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Prices of Iraqi oil are 8 to 10 dollars less than its equivalents,” he said. “Iraq’s oil production is decreasing by 100 thousand barrels per year, as oil wells have not been rehabilitated,” he added. For his part, Assim Jihad, the official spokesperson of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, said “The Ministry will sign contracts with specific firms by the end of this month (June 2009) to rehabilitate big oil wells in production.” “Those contracts will be service deals, and will solves all the current problems of oil wells,” he noted. MH (P)/SR 1