Iraq to sign deal with American oil firm for southern oilfields

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq is set to sign a deal with an American oil firm to begin tapping gas at an oil field in the south of the country, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil said on Sunday.

The Iraqi government plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with American energy company Orion on Monday “to tap gas at the Nahr Bin Omar field in Basra,” a Ministry statement read.

The Nahr Bin Omar field, which is operated by the state-run Basra Oil, is currently producing over 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) as well as 25 million cubic feet of natural gas, according to statistics on the Iraqi Ministry’s website.

Iraqi authorities are eager to speed up gas exploration projects to help overcome serious shortfalls in the electricity sector which is affecting about 35 million people in the country, Reuters reported.

Baghdad is also involved in discussions with another American oil firm, Exxon, and Chinese companies about beginning oil production at the field.

Last week, Iraq signed an agreement with British oil firm BP to increase production in the disputed, oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi met with BP officials in Kirkuk to finalize a deal and begin studying ways of boosting capacity at the fields, a source from the Iraqi North Oil Company (NOC) told Kurdistan 24.

“Under the agreement, BP will perform surveys and studies necessary to develop Kirkuk’s fields and boost their output to as much as 750,000 barrels per day,” head of BP’s Middle East business Michael Townshend said, according to an Iraqi oil ministry statement.

Iraq also recently signed a deal with Iran to deliver crude oil via tanker trucks until the construction of a pipeline from Kirkuk to the border area of Kermanshah is completed.

Kirkuk is one of the largest oilfields in the Middle East, estimated to contain around nine billion barrels of recoverable oil.