Exxon and Shell sign deal for Iraqi Oil Field

Exxon and Shell sign deal for Iraqi Oil Field

January 27, 2010

U.S. oil companies Exxon and Shell signed a final contract on Monday for the development of Iraq’s 8.7-billion-barrel West Qurna oilfield. This is the first phase of the West Qurna. The two giant oil companies, who will work with an Iraqi state-run oil company, won the right to develop the supergiant field in negotiations with the Oil Ministry last year following Iraq’s June oilfield auction. The companies now plan to increase output from the oilfield to 2.325 million barrels per day from the current rate of 279,000 bpd.

It is one of several deals following two oil contract auctions last year that have the potential to take Iraqi capacity to 12 million bpd surpassing top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia. Source: Reuters