With the United States, Russia and China vying for a foothold in Iraq's oil and gas industry in the north and south, Iraq expressed last week its desire to have one or more foreign partners in the Mansuriyah gas field in Diyala province east of Baghdad.
The writer Simon Watkins, in his report published by the site "Oil Price" US, the reserve of the Mansourieh field estimated at 4.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and is expected to peak production of about 325 million cubic feet per day.
The United States considers encouraging Iraq to improve gas flow to reduce its dependence on Iran as key. For Russia, Rosneft mainly contracted with the Kurdistan region of Iraq in November 2017 to expand gas investments.This means that the assumption that Russia will have power in other parts of Iraq, too, will return to it with much force.
Securing Russia's oil and gas contracts throughout Iraq would allow it to establish invincible political influence across the entire Shia Crescent in the Middle East, from Syria through Lebanon (thanks to Iran), Jordan and Iraq (with Iran's help too), and through Iran itself. , All the way to Yemen (via Iran).
From this base, Russia could effectively challenge Saudi Arabia, the US oil, gas and political ally in the region. Concurrently, China is working on its own agenda with Iran: South Pars in Phase 11 and the West Karon oil fields.
Iraq, like Turkey, has not committed itself to taking a specific side, either Russia or the United States, but changes its alliance at each time in proportion to its interests, and the same applies miniaturely to the field of Mansouriya. In fact, Turkey was a major player in the Mansouriya field until the middle of last year by owning 37.5% of the national oil company "Turki Bitoleri Anonim Ortakligi" (TPAO), along with 25% of the company "oil exploration" and 22.5% of the company Kuwait Energy and 15% of South Korean Kogas.
According to a senior figure in the ministry to Oil Price last week, Turki Petolleri Anonim Ortakligi signed the original development of the Mansouriya field in 2011, where the Iraqi Oil Ministry promised it could be trusted to reach peak production within 10 Years at the latest.
It was only natural that Turki Bitoliri Anonim Ortakligi halted all operations in Mansourieh in 2014, after ISIS took control of large parts of the country at the time, but surprisingly, it refused to resume development work in September. When the then Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Laibi asked her to do so. There were several subsequent requests from the ministry to Turki Petolleri Anonim Ortakligy to resume work before the ministry canceled the contract last July.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry has made it clear that it needs to exploit the Mansouriya field properly and work to gradually increase production to the overall rate of production of 325 million cubic feet per day, so that it can be used as raw materials to feed the energy sector in crisis.
In summer, energy demand every year exceeds local generating capacity, often resulting in power outages of 20 hours per day in many areas. This imbalance in supply and demand led to Iraq's dependence on neighboring Iran for a large amount of gas and electricity imports, which accounted for about one third of the total energy supply.
During a game of pitting each other against the other for optimal gains, Secretary General of the Iranian-Iraqi Joint Chamber Seyed Hamid Hosseini finally stated that Iran's gas and electricity exports to Iraq are expected to reach $ 5 billion by March 21, 2020.
In the meantime, Russia was very interested in securing gas sites in northern and southern Iraq, which it would eventually be able to transport via massive gas networks and pipelines. Gazprom Neft told Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban that it was "very interested" in playing a role in the Mansouriya field.
The Iraqi source pointed out that "Gazprom Neft" often speaks on behalf of the company "Gazprom" mother in the initial talks, a company developed in the Western style and good management capabilities, while Gazprom Soviet style. "Gazprom Neft has made it clear that it will be interested in other sites such as the Saybah field in southern Iraq," the Iraqi source said.