Technical and Business Partners
Petrel has a strategic partnership and cooperation agreement with ITOCHU Corporation (“ITOCHU”). ITOCHU is one of the largest and most respected Japanese conglomerates, one of the largest traders of crude oil in the Far East and is a major force in numerous business sectors, including steel pipe supply, finance, logistic and plant businesses. The cooperation agreement between Petrel and ITOCHU focuses on Iraq and initially covered work on the Merjan oil field under a Technical Cooperation Agreement with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. Under the agreement ITOCHU will also have a first look at future Petrel projects in the Iraqi oil & gas upstream sector.
In December 2005 Petrel also established a joint venture with a major Iraqi group, Makman, to develop the Subba and Luhais project. Together we have established structures and responsibilities within the Joint Venture Company. We have mobilised personnel to the Project offices in Baghdad, London, Italy and Istanbul with further support from our own corporate office and Makman’s office in Erbil, northern Iraq. Our Iraqi partner brings both local contacts and experience. Makman involvement in two other oil field projects in Iraq has provided them with a learning experience that we are able to benefit from.
Petrel has a 10 year established relationship with ODR, a Project Management group based in London, who have an experienced team of technical and project services personnel to assist in our evaluation, implementation and operation of our assets. This group provides a wider link to specific areas of technical expertise and financial control and planning.
We have an exclusive license for Gas to Liquids (GTL) and Coal to Liquids (CTL) technology with Energy Technology Partners, a US firm that has developed a unique technology for commercializing gas and coal reserves. Petrel also works closely with the Geosciences department of Trinity College in Dublin and Fugro (UK), a leading Geotechnical consulting firm. The group regularly uses top experts in specific disciplines worldwide on a non-exclusive consulting basis. In some cases these relationships go back over decades.