Saturday, July 17, 2004

Iraqis train at Tech

Olivier Uyttebrouck The Albuquerque Journal

A delegation of Iraqi engineers, sponsored by ChevronTexaco Corp., attended a seminar at New Mexico Tech in June to learn cutting-edge oil drilling and production techniques.

The visit was approved by a graduate of the Socorro university who until recently served as the head of Iraq's oil ministry, an official at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology said.

Tech officials hope the seminar will lead to future collaborations with Iraq and ChevronTexaco, though no events are scheduled, said Van Romero, Tech's vice president of research.

Tech kept the two-week seminar under wraps at the time because of security concerns for the 11 Iraqis, officials said.

The purpose of the seminar was to introduce new technology to engineers isolated by years of economic sanctions against Iraq, Romero said.

"The engineers that work for the Iraqi oil industry have been separated from new technology for years," Romero said. "They have been producing oil, but they have been doing it the way they did it 15 or 20 years ago."

Topics included new horizontal drilling techniques and computer software for monitoring production.

The Iraqis also made side trips to the Very Large Array, Bandelier National Monument and other sites.

Tech provided the seminar at no charge, Romero said. ChevronTexaco paid expenses for the Iraqis and provided additional training in Houston.

Romero said the seminar took shape as a result of discussions between Tech, ChevronTexaco and former Iraqi oil minister Ibrahim Bahr Al-Ulum, who earned a doctorate in petroleum engineering at Tech in 1992.

Al-Ulum was replaced as head of the oil ministry after the handover of power to an interim Iraqi government in June, but he has retained a post in the ministry, Romero said.

ChevronTexaco spokesman Andy Norman said the company intended the Tech seminar as a goodwill gesture to help Iraq modernize its oil industry. But the company also wants to strengthen ties in Iraq should the company invest there, he said.

"We are very interested in investing in Iraq's oil and gas industry if the right circumstances arise," including a stable government with the authority to initiate contracts, Norman said.

ChevronTexaco business interests there now are limited to contracts to ship Iraqi crude from Basra, Iraq's major port, he said.

* See Seminar, Page 2

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