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ExxonMobil Corporation has transferred the West Qurna 1 oilfield operations to PetroChina Company Limited. This move marks the American oil and gas giant’s exit from the said oilfield located in the southern part of Iraq.
ExxonMobil handed over the operational leadership to PetroChina as the designated new lead contractor, as per Egypt Oil & Gas. The turnover of the oilfield took place on Monday, Jan. 1, through a meeting that was held at the West Qurna 1 field and attended by ExxonMobil executives, PetroChina’s company officials, Basra Oil Co. executives, and senior Iraqi oil officials.
PetroChina Largest Oilfield Stakeholder as ExxonMobil Departs
ExxonMobil’s departure effectively made PetroChina the largest shareholder of the West Qurna 1 oilfield. This comes after Iraq’s Basra Oil Co. (BOC) and Indonesia’s Pertamina signed a sales agreement with the American oil firm last year. Iraq’s national oil company acquired 22% of ExxonMobil’s stake, while the latter purchased 10%.
At any rate, with its exit, ExxonMobil will no longer have a presence in the energy industry in Iraq. Officials of BOC explained that this will not have a significant effect on the operations at the oilfield since the current operators have already purchased Exxon’s shares.
Plans for Production Increase at West Qurna 1
Currently, the West Qurna 1 produces about 550,000 barrels of oil daily. Now, the acquisition of Exxon’s stake will give the new operators more control over the production, which means Iraq and PetroChina can boost the yields, which is what they plan to do.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the deputy oil minister, Basim Mohammed, said Iraq and PetroChina plan to boost production by 50,000 to 600,000 bpd at the end of this year. He also congratulated PetroChina for becoming the new lead contractor at West Qurna 1.
Photo by: Raymond Kotewicz/Unsplash
