North Oil Company (NOC)

=Role=

The North Oil Company is a state company within the Iraqi Ministry of Oil which oversees production in Iraq's northern fields, notably the supergiant Kirkuk field. The company's operation areas span the governorates of Kirkuk, Nineveh, Erbil, Baghdad, Diyala and part of Hilla and Kut.

Operating in some of Iraq's least secure territory, the company has been subject to repeated attacks by insurgents and organised crime since 2003. In July 2006, a director, Adel Qazzaz, was kidnapped in Baghdad and in September 2012 a carb bomb at the company headquarters killed at least seven people and wounded 17 others.

The NOC supplies crude oil of different types to Iraqi refineries and associated gas to the North Gas Company units and to electric generation stations, as well as for export through a network of pipelines to Turkey and Syria. It had over 9,300 employees on its books in 2007. It provides housing for many of its employees, maintains a 200-bed hospital in Kirkuk as well as 11 clinics across its field of operations, a private telephone nework and a station and pipeline network to pump drinking water from the River Zab to installations at the Kirkuk field.

In early 2013 Sameer Salman al-Taei was named new head of the NOC, replaing Hamid al-Saedi, who had been Director General since 2010.

=History=

The North Oil Company was created following the dissolution of Iraq's National Oil Company in 1987.

When al-Saedi replaced Manaa Abdullah al-Ubaidi as head of the NOC in January 2010 the appointment proved controversial as he is a Shi'ite from the southern province of Maysan, despite having worked in the North Oil Company for many years. The outgoing Ubaidi lauded Saedi's experience but said his appointment was "not suitable for the special status of Kirkuk" and a local oil workers union sent a letter protesting the appointment to the city authorities in Kirkuk. .

=External Links=

Official Website: www.noc.gov.iq

= References =