Economy News – Baghdad
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul Ghani confirmed on Thursday the intention to sign a contract with the British Petroleum Company (BP) to invest in four northern fields to increase production and benefit from associated gas, while specifying the extent of the contract’s impact on production plans.
Abdul Ghani said in a statement reported by the official news agency, and seen by “Al-Eqtisad News”, that “an initial agreement was reached in the British capital, London, between the North Oil Company and British Petroleum to sign a contract to develop the four fields belonging to the company,” noting that “these fields now produce more than 300 thousand barrels per day.”
He added, “The agreement with British Petroleum stipulates increasing production to more than 500,000 barrels per day and benefiting from the associated gas, investing in it and converting it into dry gas for use in operating power plants.”
He explained that “the signing will take place at the beginning of the first week of February.”
Abdul Ghani explained that “Iraq needs quantities of gas to equip the stations, and the Ministry of Oil is serious about that through many projects that it signed with specialized companies such as the French company Total to invest 600 million cubic feet of gas from 5 oil fields, in addition to the Akkas field and the Mansouriya field, and the fifth licensing round, in addition to what the Basra Gas Company is doing, which is a joint venture between the South Gas Company and Shell and Mitsubishi companies to develop and invest gas from three main fields: Rumaila, Zubair, and West Qurna 1.”