The oil industry is the backbone of Iraq's economy. Among Iraq's major oil fields, the Missan Oilfield in Missan Province in the southeast is one of the oilfields with the longest exploitation time and the worst environment. In the process of development, the Missan Oilfield has faced many challenges such as outdated facilities, backward technology, and resource bottlenecks. In May 2010, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, together with the Turkish National Petroleum Corporation, signed a 20-year technical service contract with Iraq. Over the past 10 years, with the joint efforts of all parties, the Missan Oilfield has increased its daily output from less than 90,000 barrels to 300,000 barrels, and the working and living conditions of the project personnel have been continuously improved, giving the old oilfield a new lease of life.

Oil production has exceeded 1.2 billion barrels

All old wells in Missan Oilfield are vertical wells with limited single-well production. To achieve high single-well production, horizontal well technology needs to be introduced. However, the thickness of the salt-gypsum layer in Missan Oilfield is about 800 meters, the burial depth is 2,000-3,000 meters, and the pressure exceeds 50 MPa. Operation under such conditions is considered a world-class problem. In addition, these old wells have experienced wars and high-load production, and the ground equipment has experienced various degrees of leakage, valve failure, lack of spare parts, etc., and there are also common problems such as sand production, scaling, pipe corrosion and even fracture in the well.

In order to overcome these technical difficulties, the project department, through scientific research and practice, not only overcame the high risk of thick and high-pressure salt-gypsum layers, but also realized directional drilling in salt-gypsum layers for the first time, broke through a number of technical bottlenecks in subsalt horizontal well drilling, explored the supporting technology of "precise dynamic pressure-controlled cementing", greatly improved the quality qualification rate of cementing in salt-gypsum layers, and solved the problem of carbonate rock fracture and cave leakage... Today, Missan Oilfield has built and put into production Iraq's largest integrated oil, gas, water and electricity processing terminal, put into use a standardized demonstration degassing station, and laid more than 1,500 kilometers of oilfield gathering and transportation pipelines. By the end of 2023, the Missan Oilfield Group will have produced more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil.

Usman Raja, senior manager of natural gas processing at Missan Oilfield Intelligent Terminal, said: "My job responsibilities can be divided into two parts. One is to ensure that every part of the terminal system is operating normally, and the other is to strive to improve efficiency, reduce pollution and waste through data analysis and on-site inspections. Iran and China have always cooperated smoothly and are committed to achieving the same goal, that is, to achieve high and stable production in Missan Oilfield, and the intelligent terminal is a manifestation of this."

Liu Hui, deputy general manager of CNOOC Iraq Co., Ltd., said that China has established the principle of consultation, joint construction and sharing since the beginning of entering the oilfield operation, and is committed to improving local technical capabilities and production levels to achieve win-win development. "Over the years, Chinese companies have continued to increase investment in oilfield infrastructure construction, which not only provides guarantees for the continued stable production of oilfields, but also lays a solid foundation for local sustainable development."

Created more than 4,500 jobs

At present, Iraq is making every effort to promote economic reconstruction and hopes to strengthen cooperation with international partners to train more oil and gas talents and improve the economy and people's livelihood. Chinese companies actively fulfill their social responsibilities. CNOOC and Missan Oil Company formed a Sino-Iraqi joint operating organization to coordinate the operation of Missan Oilfield. The joint operating organization not only retains about 1,800 jobs, but also continuously increases the number of local employees recruited, and has created more than 4,500 jobs in the local area so far. At the same time, CNOOC has invested more than 20 million US dollars and organized and implemented 15 social contribution projects to build and renovate roads, schools, hospitals, power grids, sewage pipe networks, etc. in local communities.