Iraq’s oil projects to sharply boost capacity — TradingView News
By N Saeed
Agreements signed between Iraq and US companies last month will lead to a sharp increase in the Arab country’s crude output capacity, Iraq’s oil minister has said.
Bassim Mohammed told a news conference in Baghdad at the weekend that Iraq expects seven US companies to pump in excess of $200 billion into projects to develop oilfields and build an advanced infrastructure for the oil sector in Iraq.
“These projects will allow Iraq to largely increase in oil production capacity and also include the construction of an advanced oil infrastructure in Iraq,” he said.
Mohammed said investments by these companies cover development of oil and gas production in key fields.
The agreements were signed with major US firms during Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi’s visit to the US for the development of oil and gas fields in south and North Iraq.
Mohammed said HKN company would develop oil and gas output at Hamrain field in South Iraq while another agreement was signed with Halliburton for the development of Nahr bin Omar and Sindbad oilfields,
He said another MoU was finalised with Chevron for West Qurna 2 oilfield, which was quit by Russia’s Lukoil, adding that it is a giant field which requires huge investments.
Other agreements were inked with BP and Conoco Philips for four exploratory areas in North Iraq and one with three US firms for Akkas gas field in Al-Anbar province, Iraq’s largest governorate.
Last year, Iraq said it has devised a five-year plan to expand its crude oil production capacity to nearly 7 million barrels per day (bpd) despite OPEC’s output quota constraints.
The increase will be achieved through oilfield development projects to be offered to new companies and those awarded to France’s energy giant TotalEnergies and other foreign firms over the past two years, said Ali Maarij, Oil Ministry Undersecretary.
The rise represents nearly 55 percent over Iraq’s existing sustainable oil output capacity of around 4.5 million bpd, which is above the country’s actual production of 4 million bpd.
(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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