| 2007: Basrah contains huge oil wealth |
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6/12/07 Oil researcher, Ahmad Al-Husseini, said that geological studies "in Iraq showed that there are about 530 geological complexes of good prospects for oil; about 115 sites have been drilled so far with reserves estimated at about 3,111 billion barrels of oil, which leaves 415 locations requiring exploration." He pointed out, "reserves in the 415 sites unexplored for various reasons are estimated at over 215 billion barrels." He believed that regions and provinces rich in oil "will include in future nearly two thirds of Iraq." Al-Husseini pointed out, in a symposium organized by the University of Babylon on the oil and gas law and attended by oil and economy experts, that oil reserves in Iraq "are parallel to those discovered in Saudi Arabia which is today the top producer of oil in the world." He said that current producing fields are "concentrated in the provinces of Basrah and Kirkuk, versus little production from a few other fields located in the provinces of Maysan, Baghdad, Salahaddin, Diyala and Mosul." He said, "the present discovered and undeveloped fields are deployed in all Iraqi provinces but four: Qadisiyah, Babil, Anbar and Dohuk". The expert noted that Basrah "holds the largest oil wealth in Iraq. According to the statistical data, it has 15 oil fields, including 10 producing ones and even they are still waiting for development and production, while the rocks in these fields contain over 65 billion barrels of oil which comprise about 59% of the total Iraqi oil reserve. Also, the oil reserves in the provinces of Basrah, Thi-Qar and Maysan represent 79.4 billion barrels, or 71% of the total reserve in the country," He pointed out that these figures mean that "the largest part of oil reserve is concentrated in the south and somewhat in Kirkuk where it is estimated at 13.45 billion barrels, which is about 12% of the total proven reserve of Iraqi oil, while the Kurdistan region contains 3.16 billion barrels, or 3% of the total." Note: recently estimates of large unproven reserves in Anbar were revealed, adding about 100 bbl to the Iraq total. Source:IRAQdirectory.com |