College of Science- University of Baghdad

Held the 1^st Petroleum Geology of Iraq Symposium

By blessing (barakat) of Allah, the secretary of the organizing committee of the first Petroleum Geology of Iraq Symposium announced the start of the program of the symposium in the Hakeem Hall at Wednesday 21 April 2010 and continued on 22 April 2010. This symposium held under the patronage of his Excellency Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Iraq with the slogan "Petroleum Geology and the role of National Staff in Oil Industry Development" and the presence of the two vice president of the University of Baghdad, Prof Dr Ma´en Al-Khalesi and Prof Dr Riyadh Aziz.

The participated of this symposium are professors and researchers from the department of geology in the College of Science and petroleum engineering of the University of Baghdad as well as from the universities of Nahrain, Sulaimaniya, Mosul and Basrah. Participants from the Iraqi Institutes are from Ministry of oil, Oil Exploration Company, Institute of Reservoir and Field Developments, South Oil Company, North Oil Company, Geological Survey, Ministry of transport, Ministry of the Interior, and Ministry of the Environment. Foreign participants of the oil companies, research centers, and universities have send their apology of not coming because of the present security problems in Iraq and willing to attend next events.

The symposium started with reading from the Holy Quraan followed by the speech of the Dean of the College of Science and the announcement for the 1^st Petroleum Geology Symposium by the secretary of the organizing committee who clarified, by data show presentation, that evolving sciences and the first world civilization was in the Mesopotamia (Old Iraq) and its continuity through the history. The Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu of Sumer civilization (6000-4000 years ago) is the world oldest and more developed architect, while the nearby house of written tablets has represented the first school in the world for righting science, arts and laws. Such schools are more elaborated during the Babylonian (4000-2000 years ago) with continuous events until the development of Al-Mustansiriyah School in 6 April 1200 AD, as the earliest world university. In that university was the more developed studies of natural sciences, engineering, medicine, art and law. Examples of the scientists of that world are the Muslim Arab scientists of Ibin Sina, Al-Beironi, Al-Razi…and others.

In this symposium, we challenge from the University of Baghdad for our home town Baghdad, the city that near to be destroyed by present wars. God bless Baghdad and for rewarding its suffering partly, an organizing committee headed by Prof Dr Khaled Al-Mukhtar and Prof Dr Thamer Al-Ameri as secretary are evolved from the College of Science. They arranged, by the help of God, this first petroleum symposium that could be considered as starting phase for higher studies in petroleum within Iraqi universities.

Appeared from the organizing committee are announcement letter, first circular, technical program and abstract book that were distributed to all petroleum geology researchers in the ministry of oil, oil companies, ministry of industry and the universities in Iraq with electronic e-mail attachment and web to the outside Iraq.

All the sessions and symposium events scheduled in the technical program are done with high efficiency and attendances.

It is evident from the presented articles of this symposium that Iraqi researches in petroleum geology are of high standard and have the ability to explore new oil fields in Iraq and development of the already explored oil fields to put them in economic quantities for oil exploitation.