Iraq's Oil to rival Russia & Saudi

Iraq has announced plans to quickly boost its oil production - allowing it to beat the world's current leading oil producers.

A senior Iraqi official said his country decided to ramp up oil production within 18 months by 30%.

The troubled nation, which still struggles for stability more than a decade after a controversial US-led invasion, hopes to pump 4.5 million barrels per day (mbd) by the end of next year, up from around 3.5 mbd now.

It then plans on increasing output by 157% of current rates by 2020, reaching 9 mbd.

Chairman of the prime minister's advisory commission, Thamir Ghadhban, confirmed the seven-year plan.

An output rate of 9 mbd would let Iraq go head-to-head with the three top producers, Saudia Arabia, Russia and the United States.

Iraq sits atop the world's fourth largest proven reserves of conventional crude, with about 143.1 billion barrels yet to be unlocked.

Oil revenues make up 95% of the country's budget receipts.

Russia to grant unprecedented tax cuts on Arctic exploration

Russian authorities have agreed to lift all export duties for new projects in the Arctic shelf to boost investment in the area. The new tax breaks are expected to came into force by the end of 2012.
Under the new legislation operators of shelf projects will be granted tax relief from 5 to 15 years, including tax breaks on export duties as well as import duty and VAT for purchased equipment. The Ministry of Energy proposed to classify shelf projects in four levels from basic to Arctic so as to implement proper tax breaks. The same tax policy will be applied to oil projects, launched from 2016.
In October 2012, the Ministry of Finance provided a report on proposed tax breaks for Arctic oil exploration, citing 13 points of disagreement with the Ministry of Energy which concerned spending on coastal infrastructure and tax breaks on company losses.
Experts consider the tax breaks unprecedented, but are reasonable as it would be the only way to boost Arctic oil exploration from 6% to 10%. Traditional oil fields discovered in the Soviet era are expected to run dry in the coming decades, reducing the country’s oil output to 400mn tonnes from 500mn tonnes by 2030, according to the Ministry of Energy. 
The Russian Arctic shelf is believed to hold about 100 billion tonnes of natural resources including 13 billion tons of oil. Though there are 257 oil wells in the region, the major part of the fields are not explored, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Gunmen abduct Seven Expatriates on Chevron Facility

Seven expatriates working for oil servicing company and contractor to Chevron Nigeria Limited were abducted by gunmen at the Pennington oil platform in offshore Nigeria. The spokesman for the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Pulo Shield, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, has confirmed the incident.

The seven expatriates are six Russians and one Estonian who were working aboard a vessel belonging to Bourbon International Oil Company when the gunmen invaded and took them away. No group has claimed responsibility for the action. The attacked vessel is known as Bourbon Liberty 249. The expatriates, according security sources, were part of a team of 15 workers when the pirates struck. The other eight workers who were unhurt during the operation had since been transferred to the Nigerian Port at Onne, Rivers State. The attacked vessel was believed to be sailing from the Pennington Offshore Terminal situated 16 miles south-west of the entrance to the Fishtown River.

The nearest community to the platform is said to be some coastal communities in Bayelsa State. Investigation revealed that the military high command has ordered all the Forward Operating Base (FOB) of the Nigerian Navy located in the Niger Delta to comb the entire area and fish out the kidnappers, a situation that has provoked tension along the coastal communities in the state.