Iraq’s Ahdab Oilfield Project-Making the concept of green development more deeply rooted in people’s hearts
Iraq’s Ahdab oil field project. Photo courtesy of China Petroleum Middle East Company
"We have prepared brochures for the villagers to introduce them to some environmental protection and safety knowledge, including how to prevent and treat hydrogen sulfide, protect underground pipelines in oil fields, prevent electric shock, and protect farmland." Abid said. At 9 o’clock in the morning, Iraqi boy Abid and Hussein came to the village near Alar Town, Kut City, Iraq to carry out environmental protection and safety knowledge publicity activities. As members of the Green Action Team of the Ahead Oil Field Project, they shoulder the responsibility of publicizing the concept of green environmental protection, coordinating community relations and ensuring safe production, and undertake the task of green and sustainable development of the Ahead Oil Field.
Iraq’s Ahdab Oilfield Project, located in Kut, Wasit Province, 180 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, is the first foreign oil cooperation project in which China enterprises participated after the war in Iraq. In 1997, China Petroleum and Natural Gas Group Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "China Petroleum"), China Ordnance Industry Group Corporation and Iraqi Petroleum Marketing Company jointly established Oasis Petroleum Co., Ltd., which was responsible for the construction and development of Ahdab Oilfield. This project is the first project of China Petroleum in the Middle East. Affected by many factors, the project was restarted in November 2008 after being stranded for 12 years.
Since its inception in 2009, the project team has adopted the world-leading patented technology of harmless treatment of waste mud to treat drilling and workover mud in oil fields, becoming the first oil field project built by an international oil company in Iraq, which integrates the treatment and production of oil, gas, water, electricity, liquefied petroleum gas and sulfur, with the most complicated treatment process and the most complete system. "The project insists on advanced treatment of acid waste gas to produce sulfur with a purity of over 99.99%, which greatly reduces the impact on the environment and benefits more than 1.4 million local people in Iraq, which is of great significance to the green environment construction in the oil region." Gong Changli, project leader, said.
From 2009 to the end of 2022, the waste liquid and waste residue produced in the process of drilling and workover of 401 wells have been treated in a centralized and harmless way, and the accumulated investment has exceeded 60 million US dollars, which has created a precedent in the history of drilling and environmental protection in Iraq.
In 2018, a Green Action Team was set up in Ahmedabad Oilfield, all of which were composed of Iraqi employees. It was responsible for publicizing the concept of green environmental protection, laws and regulations, safety production and other related knowledge to local people, collecting local people’s opinions and demands on the environment of the oil region, and further achieving the goal of environment-friendly development. At the beginning of February this year, some residents in the oil area reported the situation to the external operation coordination department of the oil field. The villagers were about to carry out channel dredging operations in the cultivated land area, fearing that they would encounter underground pipelines, and took the initiative to seek help from the oil field in advance. "After receiving the reflected situation, we rushed to the scene at the first time. After confirming the location of the underground pipeline, we contacted the ground engineers and technicians in time to guide the operation, and took pipeline protection measures to assist the local villagers to successfully complete the ditch dredging operation and avoid the phenomenon of destroying the underground pipeline." Abid said.
"In addition to our daily work, we will also collect white garbage such as plastic bags and mineral water bottles in the oil area and send them to the garbage dumping station for centralized treatment." According to Abid, over the past five years, the Green Action Team has collected more than 360 vehicles of white garbage to keep the clean environment of the oilfield operation area, which has been well received by the local people.
At the same time of oilfield development and construction, the project allocates special funds from oilfield operation funds every year as the construction funds of social public welfare projects, and carries out public welfare projects in the fields of medical care, transportation, education, sports, electric power facilities, etc., actively promoting local economic development and helping to improve the living standards of local people.
By the end of February this year, the oil field had produced more than 61 million tons of crude oil, and all the oil and gas were exported normally, which created a stable and considerable economic income for Iraq, trained a large number of local young technical talents, created more than 5,000 direct or indirect employment opportunities for the local area, and helped local community residents to obtain sustainable development opportunities and improve their lives from the source, thus building a mutually beneficial and win-win development strategy. During the development and construction period, the project has driven many China engineering technology and construction service teams to enter the Iraqi market, and most of the oilfield equipment comes from China.
Mohammad Jamir, governor of Wasit province where the oil field is located, said that the Ahdab oil field project has opened a new journey for Wasit province to become a modern industrial city, and the urban landscape has been greatly improved, with no potholes and dusty roads, and the concept of green development is more deeply rooted in people’s hearts.
An article in Iraq’s "Tomorrow Daily" said that China Company contributed a lot to the post-war reconstruction of Iraq. "Iraq needs China, and Iraq and China must continue to strengthen cooperation in various fields, especially in the political and economic fields."
Iraq’s Ahdab oil field project. Photo courtesy of China Petroleum Middle East Company
Iraq’s Ahdab oil field project. Photo courtesy of China Petroleum Middle East Company