British And French Companies Compete With China In Energy Projects In Iraq
Energy Economy News - Follow-up A report by the American energy news website, Oil Price, discussed the recent progress of two international Western companies to develop oil and gas fields in Iraq, indicating the return of Western companies to compete with Chinese dominance in the energy sector in Iraq, at a time when the British Petroleum Company will develop the Kirkuk oil field, while an agreement was reached with the French Total Company for an accelerated gas investment project in the Artawi field with a capacity of 50 million cubic feet per day.
The report states that China has invested huge sums in energy and construction projects in Iraq since 2013 under the Belt and Road Initiative and the Iraq-China Framework Agreement to implement projects in exchange for oil equipment and expand its activity across 34 oil and gas fields across the country that it won in licensing rounds that Western companies were absent from.
Today, BP is prominent in the scene, having agreed with the Iraqi side on December 19 on the final terms for developing the giant Kirkuk oil fields in northern Iraq, which contain an estimated 9 billion proven barrels of oil reserves. For BP, the site will complement its share in the giant Rumaila field.
The Kirkuk and Rumaila oil fields, whose production constitutes 80% of Iraq’s combined oil production, require continuous water pumping projects to maintain production. Reports indicate that the British company’s preparations for work in the field have been completed and it is expected to start the field development project by the end of this January.
The report quoted a source in the North Oil Company as saying that while the company has submitted an initial plan that includes completing the survey work and preparing the wells that have decreased in production, the agreement between the oil company and the British company to develop the Kirkuk fields will come into effect by the end of this month.
As for the French company Total, it has started work on the long-delayed $27 billion energy project in Iraq, as it has begun building a gas processing plant in Iraq in the Artawi field in Basra, which is the first phase of a huge deal for several energy projects, with the production capacity to process 50 million cubic feet per day, which is enough to supply at least 200,000 housing units in Basra.
In May of last year, the French energy company Total reached an agreement with the Iraqi government to begin work on the delayed $27 billion energy project. The company had initially signed a deal with Iraq in 2021 to build and complete four oil, gas and renewable energy projects in southern Iraq over 25 years at an initial investment rate of $10 billion.
However, this huge project has faced obstacles due to disagreements between Iraqi political parties over the terms of the deal, which led to its postponement. However, in the end, Iraq agreed to a 30% lower share in the project, which moved the deal back, opening the door to attracting foreign investment back to the country.
In recent years, Western companies such as the American company Exxon Mobil, the Dutch company Shell, and the British company British Petroleum have returned to Iraq to implement oil and gas field development projects in Iraq, which will contribute to increasing production rates after years of instability. Another factor that encouraged Western companies to come to Iraq is the relative security stability that the country is experiencing, which has doubled the chances of foreign investment to return.
Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in press statements, "The Iraqi government has confirmed all the terms of the agreement and there are no amendments, and this is more than good news for me."
Meanwhile, Iraq is expected to resume oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey Ceyhan pipeline to the Mediterranean coast. Oil exports through this pipeline, which amount to 450,000 barrels per day, have been halted since Turkey closed the pipeline on March 25, 2023, in response to a French international dispute settlement court ruling that Iraq be compensated $1.5 billion for oil exports without Baghdad’s knowledge. 223 views Added 01/13/2025 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=51892
