128
39
th
Annual Report
commercial oil reserves are proved, the contract will be concluded
for 20 years. The fees for the produced oil will amount to $ 5 per
barrel. The payments will start after achieving 25% of the expected
oil production plateau level, which will be determined after the end
of the geological exploration and evaluation of reserves. Block 12
is located in the Najaf and Muthanna provinces, approximately 80
km to the southwest of Samawah city, and 130 km to the west of of
Nasriya. It is considered as a part of the Iraqi Western Desert, which
is an unexplored region .The block area is about 8,000 sq km
i
.
In June 2012, WesternZagros Resources Ltd. announced an update
of the company’s ongoing exploration and appraisal program, and a
substantially revised prospective resource assessment of the Eocene
reservoir for Kurdamir. The Eocene reservoir is the second of the three
targeted reservoirs in the Kurdamir-2 well. The revised assessment
was based upon the Kurdamir-2 well encountering an interpreted oil
bearing, fractured Eocene reservoir section with a gross thickness of
275m. The revised resource estimatewas confirmed in an independent
audit carried out by Sproule International Ltd. The revised mean
prospective resource was 278 million barrels of oil as of June 1, 2012
compared to 124 million barrels reported previously
ii
. Iraq has also
signed a five- year gas exploration contract with Pakistan Petroleum
that gives the company the right to explore for gas in block 8, which
covers an area of 6,000 sq km in eastern Iraq. Under the contract, the
firm must invest at least $100 million to explore the block, which
extends over the provinces of Wasit and Diyala
iii
.
i
Iraqi Ministry of Oil, Official website, 5/8/2012
ii
Oil Voice, 7/6/2012
iii
Oil Review Middle East, 6/11/2012
