China Petroleum Pipeline (CPP) is close to winning a US$650mn contract to build a pipeline that will link Iraqs southern oilfields to major export storage depots
“This project will expand oil export capacity from producing oilfields of Maysan and Halfaya, and other small fields [in Iraq]. It will definitely remove all exports constrictions,” said Ali Maarij, chief of the state-run Maysan Oil Company.
The line will carry oil produced from these fields to al-Fao storage depots and then to offshore terminals in the Gulf, according to Reuters.
Maarij confirmed that CPP was close to winning an engineering and construction contract to build the 300km and 42-inch pipeline.
China’s CNPC, France’s Total and Malaysian state company Petronas are developing the Halfaya oilfields, and the 2.5bn-barrel Maysan complex is being run by China’s CNOOC and state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation.
Maarij said the current production from oilfields developed by foreign firms and other small fields in Iraq has reached nearly 230,000 bpd.
"The export pipeline is scheduled to be operational at the start of 2014 to handle a planned increase of output to reach around 400,000 bpd," he added.
The new pipeline will replace an existing and outdated 28-inch pipeline that currently ships crude from the southern fields in Ammara to crude storages near the city of Basra.
