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By John Lee.

ExxonMobil signed agreements on Thursday with PetroChina for a 25 percent participating interest in the West Qurna I project in Iraq, and with Indonesia's Pertamina for a 10 percent participating interest in West Qurna I.

ExxonMobil retains 25 percent interest and remains lead contractor.

The transfer has been approved by the South Oil Company, Oil Exploration Company of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and Shell West Qurna B.V., as members of the West Qurna I contractor consortium.

China is already the top foreign player in Iraq's oilfields.

(Source: ExxonMobil)

(Picture: Rex Tillerson, chairman, president, and CEO of Exxon )

Reuters reports that Exxon Mobil is selling part of its stake in the West Qurna-1 oilfield to PetroChina and Indonesia's Pertamina.

Oil Ministers Abdul Kareem Luaibi [Elaibi] told the news agency that 25 percent will go to PetroChina and 10 percent to Pertamina.

He added that the deal would be done "maybe after two to three weeks".

Exxon Mobil currently has a 60 percent stake in the giant oilfield and is the operator.

(Source: Reuters)

(Picture: Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil)

The Jakarta Post reports that Indonesia is likely to partner with Iraq to build oil refineries in Indonesia.

The director general for oil and gas at Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Edy Hermantoro, is quoted as saying:

"Both deputy energy ministers from the two countries have signed a memorandum of understanding [MoU] for cooperation in upstream and downstream sectors ...

"The door is open for both national oil and gas companies [Pertamina and the Iraq National Oil Company (INOC)] to form a business-to-business partnership."

In March this year, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Susilo Siswoutomo joined a delegation led by the Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa to visit Baghdad, the Post said.

Edy told the Post that both Susilo and Iraqi deputy oil minister Fayadh Hassan Nima had signed the energy cooperation’s agreements during the March visit.

(Source: Saudi Gazette, Jakarta Post)

By John Lee.

Indonesia has signed a deal with Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) to buy Basra light crude in the second half of 2013.

According to reports from Reuters and Jakarta Globe, Iraq is winning more customers in Asia as it is selling its crude cheaper than comparable grades, undercutting rival Saudi Arabia to grab a bigger slice of the Asian market.

Petral, the trading unit of state-run energy firm Pertamina, will lift 1 million barrels of the medium, high sulphur crude each month between June and December.

(Sources: Reuters, Jakarta Globe)

By John Lee.

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta Rajasa (pictured), has said Pertamina is considering taking a stake of up to 20 percent in the West Qurna-I block, which is owned by Exxon Mobil.

According to a report from Fox Business, Mr. Rajasa told reporters:

"Exxon has got a new oil field in another part of Iraq and because of that it has to sell its stake in the West Tuba [sic] as required by the regulation set by the government of Iraq."

(Source: Fox Business)

By John Lee.

Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas company, has said it is considering expanding its upstream business in Iraq.

The company's investment planning and risk-management director, Afdal Bahaudin, told The Jakarta Post that the second-largest oil producer in the country would keep on searching for producing onshore oil fields available to purchase in a bid to boost its output.

Pertamina president director Karen Agustiawan (pictured) said that Pertamina would look at other options to acquire overseas oil blocks such as in Iraq, whose Deputy Energy Minister Hussain al-Shahristani she met last year to discuss the possibility of acquiring stakes in the country.

“We may have the chance to work with [France-based] Total there,” she said.

(Source: Jakarta Post)

Indonesia’s state-owned oil company Pertamina wants to buy stakes in at least two Iraqi oilfields, according to a report from Bloomberg.

During meetings between Iraqi and Indonesian government officials in Jakarta, company President and CEO Karen Agustiawan (pictured) told reporters the company may acquire a 10 percent share in an area that produces 2.5 million barrels a day, and in another that pumps 1.8 million barrels.

“If we can have 10 percent shares in each field, we could supply 180,000 barrels and 250,000 barrels for Indonesia’s energy security,” Agustiawan said. The company still needs to negotiate with the operators of the fields and obtain approval from the Iraqi government, she said.

Iraq Business News, however, casts doubt on this assertion, as the stated output of the two fields is more than Iraq's total production.

Pertamina also plans to resume operations in the Block-3 Western Desert acreage, Agustiawan said. The company obtained rights to the field, which is in an exploration stage, in 2002, it said in a statement.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Exxon Mobil is conspicuously absent from the finalized list of 47 pre-qualified bidders for the Iraq's fourth round of energy exploration rights.

The Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) at the Ministry of Oil has confirmed that the auction will take place as scheduled on May 30-31.

The full list of pre-qualified companies is shown below:

Iraq's oil ministry has issued a list of the 41 companies qualified to participate in its fourth energy bidding round in January:

ATPECO  - Japan

Bashneft - Russia

BP - UK

Chevron Corp - United States

CNOOC - China

CNPC - China

Edison - Italy

Egyptian General Petroleum Corp - Egypt

Eni Iraq - Italy

ExxonMobil - United States

Gazprom - Russia

Hess Corporation - United States

INA-Industrja Nafte - Croatia

Inpex Corp - Japan

ITOCHU Corp - Japan

Japex - Japan

JOGMEC - Japan

JX Nippon Oil and Gas - Japan

Kogas - South Korea

Kuwait Energy - Kuwait

Lukoil - Russia

Mitsubishi Corp - Japan

Mitsui Oil - Japan

Mubadala Oil - United Arab Emirates

Occidental Petroleum - United States

OJSC Oil Company Rosneft - Russia

OJSC TNK-BP Holding - Russia

ONGC Videsh Ltd - India

Pakistan Petroleum - Pakistan

Petro Vietnam - Vietnam

PetroChina - China

Petronas - Malaysia

Premier Oil - UK

PT Pertamina - Indonesia

PTTEP International Holding - Thailand

Royal Dutch Shell - UK/Netherlands

Sonangol - Angola

Statoil - Norway

Sumitomo Corp - Japan

Total - France

TPAO - Turkey

Occidental Petroleum is planning to build a water desalination plant in Umm Qasr, Basra, an oil expert said on Monday.

“The oil company seeks to implement the project as the South Oil Company refused to provide it with the water it requires to inject into wells to develop oilfields,” Dr. Jabar al-Halfi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, pointing out that the company uses a special method of extracting oil by injecting water into wells.

Occidental is part of an Eni-led consortium that has been awarded the license for development of the giant Zubair oil field

(Sources: Aswat al-Iraq, Occidental)

Related articles:

• Eni to Award Oilfield Drilling Contracts
• Occidental, Pertamina Consider Sonangol’s Iraq Deals
• Did Big Oil Win the War in Iraq?