The Majnoon Oil Field is a super-giant oil field located from

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

in southern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. Majnoon is one of the richest oil fields in the world with an estimated 38 billion barrels of oil in place. The field was named ''Majnoon'' which means ''crazy'' in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

in reference to excessive amount of oil in a dense area.

History

The field was discovered by Braspetro, a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian company in 1975, under the leadership of Bolivar Montenegro Guerra in a shallow

Upper Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', th ...

formation. Development came to a halt in 1980 during the engineering phase of the project, due to

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...

, particularly

Operation Kheibar Operation Kheibar was an Iranian offensive in the Iran–Iraq War. It was part of the Battle of the Marshes. Prelude After the unsuccessful major offensive named Operation Dawn V aimed directly at Basra, Iran opened a front at the lakes of th ...

. At the time, Braspetro had finished drilling of 20 wells and pressed 14 drilling rigs into service. In the course of the war,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

occupied and sabotaged the area. After the war, Southern Oil Company of Iraq restarted the production. In 1990's,

Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

negotiated a development contract with

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

but was unable to sign the deal due to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

sanctions imposed on Iraq. The deal was eventually annulled by Hussein in 2002. Due to the

2003 Iraq War The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

, production was reduced to . In 2007, Total and

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...

signed an agreement with Iraqi government to explore Majnoon field. On December 11, 2009, the Iraqi government awarded a license to a joint venture from

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

and Petronas to take over operations at Majnoon Oilfield, and triple production from the estimated reserve of nearly at a fee rate of $1.39/barrel. The consortium was awarded the contract out of 44 international companies, participating in the auction, with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), ExxonMobil, Sinochem Corporation, Total specifically bidding on Majnoon field. The finalist alliance of CNPC and Total offering $1.75/barrel lost the bid. The deal intends a 20-year service and development of the field. The contract was approved by

Council of Ministers of Iraq The Council of Ministers is the executive branch of the government of Iraq. The Council of Representatives of Iraq elects a President of the Republic who appoints the Prime Minister who in turn appoints the Council of Ministers, all of whom mu ...

on January 5, 2010. Shell agreed at the end of 2017 to exit the venture and hand over its operation to Basra Oil Company (BOC) by the end of June 2018. Shell was the operator and holder of 45 percent at Majnoon, with Malaysia's Petronas owning 30 percent, and Iraq's Missan Oil Company holding the remaining 25 percent. In June 2018 officials from Shell and Basra Oil Company met to mark the handing over of the operations of the field. In April 2018, Anton Oilfield Services signed Integrated Facilities Management Services Contract (IFMS) a two-year deal with Iraq's oil ministry with a one year extension option to operate the maintenance and production of the Majnoon field on behalf of Basra Oil Company. In January 2021, Anton Oilfield Services and Basra Oil Company agreed to renew the IFMS for two more years of one year extension option. In May 2018, KBR, Inc. announced that it has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management contract (EPCM) by Basra Oil Company (BOC) for the development of project and construction side of the Majnoon Oil Field in Basra, Iraq.

Licences

Until June 2018 (when Shell - the operator exited) Shell held a 45% stake in all licences, Petronas 30% and Iraqi Ministry of Oil 25%.

Reservoir

Majnoon's first pay zone consists of

which proved of oil per day. Mishrif carbonates, Nahr Umr sands (

Middle Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of t ...

) and Shuaiba carbonates and Zubair sands (

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eig ...

) form the pay zones.

Production

According to the deal, the consortium will increase production to a peak of oil per day within seven-year period. Majnoon was the first Iraqi field out of 10 major ones offered to international companies for development. The contract with Shell and Petronas includes drilling over 40 production wells, construction of three gas separation stations and two crude oil processing refineries with overall capacity of . The official start date was March 1, 2010. In the Phase I of the project, the consortium intends to increase the production from 45,000 to within two-year period. The production at Majnoon will move Iraq from the current 11th place to the 3rd among oil producing nations after Saudi Arabia and Iran. The country sits on 150 billion of oil and currently produces . Iraq expects to top the oil production to within six years, thus competing with

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

References

External links