Technical Service Partners: Basra Energy Company Ltd (BECL) comprising BP and CNPC, State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO)
Field history
Discovery
1953
Production
Current production of oil
14,210,000 barrels per day (~7.081×10^8 t/a)
Year of current production of oil
2022
Estimated oil in place
17,000 million barrels (~2.3×10^9 t)
Producing formations
Main Pay, Mishrif, Upper Shale, Bn Umer, 4th Pay
The Rumaila oil field is a super-giant oil field[1] located in southern Iraq, approximately 50km to the south west of Basra City.[2] Discovered in 1953 by the Basrah Petroleum Company (BPC), an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC),[3][4][5] the field is estimated to contain 17 billion barrels, which accounts for 12% of Iraq's oil reserves, estimated at 143 billion barrels.[6][7][8] Rumaila is said to be the largest oilfield ever discovered in Iraq[9] and is one of the three largest oil fields in the world.[10]
Under Abd al-Karim Qasim, the oilfield was nationalised by the Iraqi government by Public Law No. 80 on 11 December 1961.[11] Since then, this massive oil field has remained under Iraqi control. The assets and rights of IPC were nationalized by Saddam Hussein in 1972, and those of BPC in 1975.[12] The dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over alleged slant-drilling in the field was one of reasons for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.[13][14]
After decades of under investment, by the early 2000s, the field was suffering not only from the natural base decline of its reservoirs, but also from ageing infrastructure and equipment, compromising both production capacity, environmental protection and safety.
North Rumaila is called "the cemetery" by the locals. A local environmental scientist told the BBC that cancer in the area is so rife it is "like the flu".[15]
The Rumaila Operating Organisation (ROO) continues to reduce gas flaring from its operated facilities at Rumaila. This reduced by a further 20% during 2022 – contributing to a reduction of more than 65% over the past seven years.[16]
^Beydoun, Ziad (1988). The Middle East: Regional Geology and Petroleum Resources. Beaconsfield: Scientific Press Ltd. p. 179. ISBN 090136021X.
^Master Sgt. David Bennett (2010-06-12). "Delegation sees Iraq oil field up close". US Army. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
^Iraq Petroleum Handbook. London: IPC. 1948. p. 141.
^Vassiliou, Marius (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Petroleum Industry. Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 272. ISBN 9780810859937.
^Nairn, Alsharan, A.E.M., A.S. (2003). Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum Geology of the Middle East (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 471. ISBN 0444824650.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Iraq – Rumaila Oil Field (HVO IRQ-10)". ukti.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
^"Iraq increases oil reserves by 24%". BBC. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
^"Iraq Lifts Oil Reserves Estimate to 143 Billion Barrels, Overtakes Iran". Bloomberg. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
^"IBBC Members Profile – BP". We Build Iraq. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
^Christopher Helman (2010-01-21). "The World's Biggest Oil Reserves. Chances are your energy needs are going to flow from one of these 10 fields in the future". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
^Wolfe-Hunnicut, Brandon Roy (2011). The End of the Concessionary Regime: Oil and American Power in Iraq, 1958–1972. Ph.D dissertation: Stanford University. p. 70.
^Shwadran, Benjamin "Middle East Oil: Issues and Problems", Schenkman Publishing, 1977.
^Thomas C. Hayes, Confrontation in the Gulf's ; The Oilfield Lying Below the Iraq-Kuwait Dispute, The New York Times, September 3, 1990
^J. Murdico, Suzanne (2003). The Gulf War : War and Conflict in the Middle East. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 13, 68. ISBN 9780823945511.
^Cite error: The named reference BBC1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"bp responds to BBC story on Rumaila oilfield". bp. 16 February 2023.
The Rumailaoilfield is a super-giant oilfield located in southern Iraq, approximately 50km to the south west of Basra City. Discovered in 1953 by the...
1991, two days after President Bush declared a ceasefire, near the Rumailaoilfield in the Euphrates Valley of southern Iraq, when the U.S. Army forces...
1960s / 1970s. Rumailaoilfield is part of the so-called class of super-giant oilfields, with more than one billion barrels of recoverable oil. Current estimations...
slant-drilling in the Rumailaoilfield was one of the reasons for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. In addition, Kuwait had been producing oil above treaty limits...
list of oilfields includes some major oilfields of the past and present. The list is incomplete; there are more than 25,000 oil and gas fields of all...
official says". Reuters. "Oil and Gas Fields: Rumaila". Iraq Business News. Retrieved 16 April 2018. "Iraq targets Rumailaoilfield output at 1.5 mb/d in...
Iraq's Rumailaoilfield. According to oil workers in the area, Iraq's slant drilling claim was fabricated, as "oil flows easily from the Rumailafield without...
Corporation, Shell, and Lukoil, for increasing oil production facilities in the Rumailaoilfield and West Qurna Field following the Iraqi government's lack of...
Safaniya OilField (Arabic: حقل السفانية النفطي), operated and owned by Saudi Aramco, is the largest offshore oilfield in the world. It is located about...
signed in Scotland on 17 September 1928. The discovery of the East Texas OilField in the 1930s led to a boom in production that caused prices to fall, leading...
claiming that Kuwait was stealing its oil from a field near the border by slant drilling of the Rumailafield. In early July 1990, Iraq complained about...
associated with natural gas fields in north and south Rumaila. Also developing new fields in Luhais, Saba, Nuhran Ben Ummer and oilfields in Maysan. Laying out...
partners in IPC from whom the North RumailaField had been appropriated, to enter into a contract to develop the field, ultimately, with the help of the...
the Iraqi ministry of oil awarded contracts to international oil companies for some of Iraq's many oilfields. The winning oil companies entered joint...
providing free shipping. In 1989, Saddam accused Kuwait of oil slant drilling under Rumailaoilfield on the Iraqi border. In February 1990, Saddam Hussein...
ministry of oil is reached. Oilfields contracted include the "super-giant" Majnoon Field, Halfaya Field, West Qurna Field and RumailaField. The East Baghdad...
oil, The Times Oil giants to sign contracts with Iraq, The Guardian Shrinking Our Presence in Saudi Arabia, The New York Times. The End of Cheap Oil,...
West Qurna (Arabic: غرب قرنة) is one of Iraq's largest oilfields, located north of Rumailafield, 65 km northwest of Basra. West Qurna is believed to hold...
1960s and 1970s in order to ensure, among other goals, a stable flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. As of 2023[update], the U.S. has diplomatic relations...
events, such as lightning. They can exist on a small scale, such as an oilfield spill catching fire, or on a huge scale, as in geyser-like jets of flames...
upset by Kuwait contributing to the glut and allegedly pumping oil from the Rumailafield below their common border. Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, planning...
Regiment also secured the oilfields in southern Iraq in places like Rumaila while the Polish commandos captured offshore oil platforms near the port,...
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