Iraq to initial oil deal with Italian-led consortium

by Ammar Karim Thu Oct 29, 12:01 PM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq will initial a draft agreement with a consortium led by Italian energy giant ENI next week to exploit the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq, the oil ministry said on Thursday.

It will be Iraq's second deal with a major oil company this year and comes as the country, which is heavily dependent on crude for its income, seeks to dramatically ramp up production.

"The oil ministry will sign the preliminary agreement with ENI in Baghdad on Monday," spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP, adding that the deal would then be submitted to the cabinet for final approval ahead of a formal signing.

He said a separate deal with Britain's BP and China's CNPC International to almost triple production at the south's giant Rumaila field, which already has the approval of ministers, would be signed next Tuesday.

Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said earlier this month the aim is to raise crude production to between 10 and 12 million barrels per day within six years -- up from the current level of around 2.5 million bpd.

Around 85 percent of Iraqi government revenues are from oil sales.

The ENI-led consortium, which also includes Occidental Petroleum Corp of the United States and Korea Gas Corp of South Korea, reached agreement on terms earlier this month.

It accepted Baghdad's offer of two dollars for each extra barrel of oil it extracts on top of current production at Zubair.

The field produces around 195,000 barrels per day, according to ENI which expects production to increase to 1.13 million bpd by 2016.

Zubair has reserves of around four billion barrels, Iraq's oil ministry said earlier this year.

Jihad added that next week, the ministry hopes to "announce the name of the company that will develop West Qurna 1."

Competing consortiums led by US energy giant Exxon Mobil and Russia's Lukoil have submitted bids that meet Iraq's conditions for the West Qurna 1 field, agreeing to be paid 1.9 dollars per additional barrel.

The Exxon-led consortium, which includes Anglo-Dutch energy firm Shell, has proposed to add 2.1 million bpd to the field's production, while Lukoil, which is teaming with ConocoPhillips of the United States, says it will ramp up production by 1.5 million bpd.

West Qurna 1 produces around 279,000 bpd and has reserves of around 8.5 billion barrels, according to oil ministry figures.

The deal with BP and CNPC International, approved on October 16, is expected to cost between 14 and 20 billion dollars and boost production at Rumaila from the current one million bpd to around 2.8 million bpd over its 20-year duration.

Rumaila is already integral to Iraq's oil output, contributing almost half of the nation's current production.

BP and CNPC were the only companies with a successful bid when Iraq offered eight contracts at a June auction. They agreed to receive only two dollars a barrel to operate Rumaila, which has known reserves of 17.7 billion barrels.

It is the first big upstream deal between Iraq and foreign oil majors since nationalisation of the country's oil industry about four decades ago.

Under the terms of the contract, Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation will be allocated Baghdad's 25 percent stake, while BP will take 38 percent and CNPC the remaining 37 percent.

A second round of bidding for Iraqi oil contracts is due in the first half of December.

The June auction was the first opportunity for energy companies to plant a foot in Iraq since the now banned Baath party nationalised the Iraq Petroleum Company in 1972.

Iraq has the world's third-largest proven reserves of oil, with more than 115 billion barrels, behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Investment in the country's ageing energy infrastructure has been hampered by delays to a key hydrocarbons law which would regulate the oil sector and divide responsibility between the central government and Iraq's provinces.