Iraq Petroleum 2012: The Largest Senior Strategic Gathering on Iraq’s Oil & Gas Industry

June 25, 2012 - PRLog -- Iraq Petroleum 2012 took place on 18-20 June 2012 at the Intercontinental Hotel, Park Lane, London, UK and is recognised by the industry as the senior strategic meeting place for the Iraqi oil and gas industry. The Conference and Workshop brought together government officials, industry leaders and key decision makers from over 30 countries around the globe, to discuss the current challenges, solutions and opportunities in the Iraq oil and gas industry.

The two day Conference focused on the new joint venture partnerships in Iraq’s oil and gas industry and the best model of cooperation. It highlighted the necessity of economic integration and cooperation with international companies to provide jobs and investment opportunities in Iraq, as well as being key to providing political stability. The Workshop sponsored by Clyde & Co, was a success in that it provided a real assessment of Iraq’s oil and gas infrastructure requirements. Furthermore it supplied an in depth understanding of the main contractual guidelines for subcontracting and gave practical guidance on forming a framework for the legal procedures.

The Conference was officially opened by H.E. Dr Rowsch N Shaways, Deputy Prime Minister of the Iraqi Government; “On behalf of the Republic of Iraq, myself and the members of the Iraqi delegation, I would like to indicate how pleased I am to participate in this important economic event, to continue our earlier efforts exerted in economic meetings and conferences, to create new opportunities for joint economic cooperation and investment in our country.”

The Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq outlined the key elements in Iraq’s oil and gas strategy. An important component detailed was to achieve a significant increase in the oil and gas reserves and production capacities to meet domestic and international growing needs. A boost in gas investment, an enhancement of oil tanker fleets, promotion of the awareness of environment conservation and developing the capacity and efficiency of the oil sector personnel, were key policies that are intended to be implemented as part of the strategy. He moreover highlighted that Iraq’s oil production capacity had reached 2.7 million barrels per day, with an export capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day, the highest since 2003.  

A key theme in the Conference sessions was the capacity of Iraq’ oil production; H.E. Thamir Ghadhban, Chairman of the Advisory Commission to the Prime Minister commented that he “sees no obstacles to increasing Iraq’s oil production by 50 percent over the next two-and-a-half years. There is no doubt that Iraq has huge potential, and it’s clear that many Iraqi’s have a huge determination to take the actions necessary to realise that potential”

H.E. Dr Ali Al Dabbagh, Minister of State & Iraqi Government Spokesman of the Iraqi Government, noted that Iraq has embarked on its biggest ever development of the oil and gas sector, indicating that Iraq is going to be an important economic power in the region and a major supplier to countries with a growing demand for energy.

Iraq’s reliance was another key session discussed by H.E. Dr Bayazeed Hassan Abdullah, MP, Oil & Gas Committee, Iraqi Parliament, he indicated that Iraq must diversify its revenue sources by finding others such as petrochemical industries, new oil refineries to export refined products and electricity generating stations to help meet domestic and international demand.

Projects underway in Kurdistan were also discussed at the Iraq Petroleum 2012. H.E. Dr Ashti Hawrami, Minister of Natural Resources, Kurdistan Regional Government discussed these joint venture projects and their future projected targets, as well as the role of advanced technologies in oil and gas economic and production capabilities.

Iraq Petroleum 2012 hosted presentations from the following distinguished speakers: Brian McFeeters, Counselor for Economic Coordination, U.S. Embassy Baghdad; Michael Howard, Minister’s Advisor, Ministry of Natural Resources, Kurdistan Region Government; Dr Hadi Hussain , Director General , Office of H.E the Deputy Prime Minister, Mussab Al Dujayli, Energy Advisor, Former DG, State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO); Hans Nijkamp, Vice President & Country Chairman, Shell; Dr Tony Hayward, CEO, Genel Enerji; David Morrison, Chairman, Wood Mackenzie; Chris Bowers, Her Majesty’s Consul General, British Consulate General, Erbil; Jabbar Allibi, Former DG of the South Oil Company; and Mounir Bouaziz, Vice President Commercial - MENA NBD & LNG, Shell.

Recognised as the senior strategic meeting place for the Iraqi oil and gas industry, the Conference was supported by key industry players; The CWC Group would like to thank its 2012 sponsors for supporting the Conference: Principal Service, Habboush Group; Principal IOC, Shell; Total; Genel Energy; Gulf Keystone Petroleum; Occidental; Technology Partners; Clyde & Co; General Exploration Partners; Crescent Petroleum; Motorola; Aspect Holdings; and Mubadala.

Iraq Petroleum is an internationally renowned Conference and provides a platform for key government officials and senior executives to network, discuss current issues and promote innovative ideas surrounding Iraq’s oil and gas sector. Iraq Petroleum 2013 will take place in June 2013 in London, and will assess the progress that has been made in building the blocks of an energy giant and positioning Iraq in the world energy map as a major producer of oil and gas.