Iraq creating new state oil firms

NASSIRIYA - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given his support to the formal establishment of the Dhi Qar Oil Company, one of many new state firms to be established over the coming year.

The Iraqi government has a policy of creating discrete state oil companies for provinces that exceed a certain threshold of production. In Dhi Qar, production is expected to increase to more than 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) on the backs of the IOC-led Garraf and Nassiriya oil fields alone, not including other fields being developed in the province.