The much-delayed 12.5mn b/d, $10bn Common Seawater reinjection project is essential if Iraq is to have any chance of raising output to anywhere near its 9mn b/d target. But cash-strapped Baghdad will have to lean on deep-pocketed external finance.
Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) is in talks with China’s CNPC for financing the much-delayed $10bn Common Seawater Supply Facility (CSSF), MEES understands. The Iraqis have approached the Chinese state-owned company, one of the biggest investors in southern Iraq’s oil field developments, because SOC cannot afford to finance the vital project on its own in the wake of the collapse in oil prices. (CONTINUED - 1968 WORDS)
