Qatar Petroleum Finalizes Idd al-Sharghi Takeover

11 Oct 2019 Issue: 62 / 41 By: Jamie Ingram

Qatar Petroleum took over as operator of the Idd al-Sharghi north and south domes on 7 October, replacing US firm Oxy. At 100,000 b/d their combined output is the largest component of the flagship Qatar Marine export grade.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) has been revamping Qatar’s upstream sector since Saad al-Kaabi took over as CEO in 2014 (MEES, 19 September 2014). Under his leadership, the role of IOCs at Qatar’s oil fields has been greatly reduced, either through tighter terms or with QP taking over entirely. This week saw QP finalize its takeover of two fields, replacing US firm Occidental (Oxy) at Idd al-Sharghi North Dome (ISND) and the south dome satellite field (ISSD).

When QP announced in October 2018 that it would be taking over ISND once Oxy’s development and production sharing agreement expired this year, it was an unexpected development for the US firm (MEES, 19 October 2018). While the separate contract for ISSD was scheduled to run until 2022, Oxy had no interest in maintaining it as a solo project and was expected to let it lapse in 2022 (MEES, 15 February). Instead, the two firms came to an agreement for QP to take over the two fields at the same time. (CONTINUED - 839 WORDS)