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Hercules Offshore has appointed James W. Noe to executive vice president, Beau M. Thompson to general counsel and secretary, Charles A. Lestage to deputy general counsel and chief compliance officer, Cecil H. Bowden to vice president engineering and capital projects and John B. Crabtree to vice president technical support, compliance, and maintenance.
Mr Noe has served as senior vice president
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The number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the Appalachian Basin’s Utica Shale for the last week of October 2012 has doubled compared with the level for the same week in 2011, according to a report by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The growth in active oil-directed rigs has more than offset the declines in active gas-directed rigs. About 86%, or 24 out of 28 active rigs in the Utica play, were directed toward drilling for shale oil during the last week in October, whereas a year ago only 15% of rigs were targeting shale oil in the Utica, according to Baker Hughes.
The 28 active rigs in that area represent 2% of all active rigs in the US, according to data from the Baker Hughes US Rig Count Reports.
Chesapeake Energy Corp operated 13 rigs in Ohio for the week ending 26 October 2012, accounting for nearly half of all operating rigs in the Utica, according to Bentek Energy. This compares with only four Chesapeake rigs operating for the week ending 28 October 2011. Of the six other operators that had active rigs in 2011, only one still had an active rig in 2012, indicating that new operators, as well as Chesapeake, are carrying out the new drilling for shale oil in the Utica play. Chesapeake accounted for 112 of the 289 new well starts in Ohio recorded year-to-date for 2012, all of which were classified as having both oil and gas potential, according to Bentek.
By John Lee.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has inaugurated the new Hilla gas-powered electricity station in Babil province.
Ministry of Electricity spokesman Musab Al-Mudarris said that the station’s total power is 250 MW, using two 125-MW GE generators.
The project was carried out by the Al-Hurra International company at a cost of $84 million, under the supervision of the Ministry of Electricity.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussain al-Shahristani and Electricity Minister Karim Aftan
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By John Lee.
Private investment in Iraq’s industrial sector is expected to reach $7 billion this year, up from $3 billion in 2011, reports Reuters.
Adel Karim, the deputy industry minister, told the news agency that the country is reaping the rewards of opening up its financial and industrial sectors and luring foreign investment and expertise to revive its dilapidated factories.
He added that Iraq needs investment in every sector, and has the budget to enable it to rebuild.
The country’s industrial sector currently contributes only 2 percent to the country’s GDP, but Karim believes that if the political and the security situation calmed down, it would be possible to reach 20 to 25 percent in three or four years.
Karim said the ultimate goal was the gradual privatization of all 260 government factories, which are run by more than 70 state-owned companies.
“Our main goal is to hand over our companies to the private sector, because the private sector is more active … but our first step is production-sharing deals,” Karim said
The ministry has signed between 40 and 50 production-sharing contracts with local and foreign companies over the past two years, including German, French and Turkish companies.
It recently signed a $1 billion contract with Turkey’s UB Holding to restore an iron and steel factory that was looted during the 2003 invasion in the southern province of Basra.
Karim also said the ministry is close to signing contracts worth a combined $1 billion with three Turkish companies to restore three cement factories in northern and southern Iraq.
(Source: Reuters)
.reportBy John Lee.
Azzaman reports that the flaring of associated gas from the country’s producing oil fields, particularly in Basra, is costing the country $5 million a day.
But there is good news, according to Dhia al-Mawsawi, the Director-General of South Oil Company, who said there should be no flaring of gas in Basra by the end of 2013.
He said his company was in talks with Shell for an agreement to build the facilities to process the country’s associated gas and turn it into domestic fuel.
Iraq only process 400 million cubic meters of its total output of associated gas estimated at more than 1100 cubic meters, while it imports large volumes of natural gas from Iran.
(Source: Azzaman)
.reportBy Amir Hassan Fayad.
This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
Iraq and Russia have been getting cosy lately with high ranking visitors and multi-billion dollar arms deals. Is this friendship just a business opportunity? Related to events in Syria or Iran? Or something more sinister?
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s visit to Russia as well as the making, then breaking, of a multi-billion dollar arms deal with Russia has led to plenty of questions. These include questions on the state of the Russian-Iraqi friendship, its importance to both partners and its significance in geo-political terms.
Over the past century, the relationship between Iraq and Russia may best be described as inconsistent. Or possibly as similar to the kind of relationship that a small business might have with a big, multi-national business. It makes no sense for the big business
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The Kurdistan Region President and Prime Minister last week met with France’s Ambassador to Iraq, Mr Gauer Denys, and a French business delegation representing major French companies and business associations.
In his meeting with the delegation, President Masoud Barzani said that the Kurdistan Region is eager to enhance economic relations with French companies and thanked the French government for its role in encouraging companies to invest in Kurdistan.
Speaking on behalf of the mission, Mr Courtaigne said that several major French companies have already established their presence in Kurdistan and more are planning to come, citing good security, a conducive business environment, and close cooperation by the Kurdistan Regional Government as the main reasons for their interest.
In their meeting with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, Ambassador Denys said that the French companies came to Kurdistan to evaluate what is needed and to find out how to participate successfully in rebuilding and investing here. He added that the French people want to play an important role in building and developing the Kurdistan Region.
Representatives of 23 companies participated in the visit, including the Chairman of the France-Iraq Business Council Mr Yves-Louis Darricarrere, the CEO of the French Union of Employers (MEDEF) Mr Thierry Courtaigne, and representatives of Total, Lafarge, EADS France, Gaz de France, Bureau Veritas and Bouygues Travaux Publics. MEDEF represents 800,000 companies across every sector in France.
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