Getech sells more oil reserve data in Iraq

The group, spun out of the University of Leeds, sells complex geological and geophysical data to help oil companies including Shell, BP and Exxon Mobil decide where to sink new wells.

Getech signed a deal with the Geological Survey of Iraq (Geosurv) in December giving it exclusive rights to market the country’s gravity and magnetic survey data held by Geosurv.

Yesterday the company said it has sold another tranche of data, worth more than $500,000 (£306,000). Last month the company said its total Iraq sales exceed $750,000.

Getech founder and president Professor Derek Fairhead said: “This provides further evidence of the strength of interest in exploration in Iraq.

“We believe that the upcoming fourth licence round in Iraq, which involves 12 exploration blocks and for which 41 companies are reported to have been pre-qualified, will generate further interest in these datasets in whole or part.”

Oil majors are increasingly targeting exploration in Iraq, which has the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves behind Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran. Professor Fairhead led the Iraq negotiations, which took more than five years to complete. Getech’s data provides substantial coverage across much of Iraq – except Kurdistan where such surveys have not taken place.