Iraqis: Come on, dig in

The yellow chips looked scrumptious, as did the glasses brimming with liquid the color of a fine amber ale. But these weren’t the makings of a buffet. The chips were sulfur and the liquids were petroleum products, exhibits aimed at promoting Iraq’s oil industry at the country’s first postwar Energy Expo.

This weekend’s show, which featured exhibitors from Tulsa to Tehran, was uniquely Iraqi in both the hurdles and the hopes surrounding it.

Getting there from central Baghdad, a few miles away, involved sharing a highway with military convoys and having vehicles checked by bomb-sniffing dogs. Exhibitors spoke of the oil-soaked riches waiting to be tapped here, but also of the security worries that hamper investment. Most were staying at a hotel at Baghdad’s airport, surrounded by layers of blast walls and armed guards.

And then there’s the issue of legislation: the pivotal law that parliament must pass to cement a plan for managing Iraq’s oil industry and dividing the profits. It has languished for more than a year, tied down by political feuds and distrust among Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis.

None of this stopped about 70 exhibitors from coming to the expo, which closes today after a three-day run at the airport’s new, not-quite-finished convention center.

One was Takashi Kikuchi of Japan’s Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp., whose booth was graced with a photograph of Japanese cherry trees in full, pink bloom.

“This is probably going to be the hottest area in the world in oil and gas exploration,” said Kikuchi, expressing hope that Iraq’s political and security situations soon would be stable enough for companies such as his to make full use of the opportunities.

Those include tapping into some of the world’s largest crude oil reserves in a country that has some of the lowest extraction costs -- about 50 cents a barrel, said Eric Dangler of Oklahoma’s Taylor Industries. Taylor will design a custom rig suited to any oil extraction need, taking into consideration such things as climate, soil conditions and the depth of the oil.

“It’s like a Bentley,” Dangler said, showing off photographs of shiny red contraptions that range from $3 million to tens of millions, depending on how deep they need to dig. In most of Iraq, he said, a relatively inexpensive model will do the job because one doesn’t need to dig far to hit oil. With today’s modern marvels, someone could pick a spot and be sucking oil from the ground within 45 minutes, Dangler said.

Taylor Industries’ models are state-of-the-art even in the United States. In Iraq, where outdated equipment is one of the biggest problems facing the oil industry, they are mind-boggling.

Dangler said he had been trying to find out how old most rigs in Iraq are. “Nobody can tell me. They just say ‘old,’ ” he said.

“Old” or some variation of the word was heard frequently in the expo, as Iraqi Oil Ministry officials and foreign visitors spoke of the need to bring the industry up to speed after decades of war and sanctions. The problem is not confined to equipment: It also affects the Iraqi oil workforce.

“There’s 20 years of emptiness,” said Kikuchi, describing the training levels of most mid-level oil industry employees. Only the older workers, who learned the trade before sanctions, and the very young, who just got their training, have the expertise the industry needs, Kikuchi said. “But the core people are lacking in training. That’s a problem.”

Iraq’s oil minister, Hussein Shahristani, opened the show Friday by announcing an ambitious plan to produce 6 million barrels of oil a day by 2018, compared with about 2.4 million a day now.

The country is dependent on oil for 90% of its income, and it was expecting a windfall when prices for crude soared. Even with the price plunging from more than $140 a barrel over the summer to a four-year low Friday of $40.81, Shahristani said Iraq had nothing to worry about.

Iraq has 115 billion barrels of reserves, he said in his speech. “This is a big number,” he said, “but I submit to you that it is underestimated.”

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tina.susman@latimes.com

Times staff writer Caesar Ahmed contributed to this report.