By John Lee. The Governor of Nineveh province, Atheel al Nujaifi (pictured), has told Reuters that Baghdad has focused on the giant southern oilfields and has paid little attention to developing resources in his province. The province has started talks with oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, and is drafting terms to attract investment. Nujaifi added: "We […]
By John Lee. Oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi [Elaibi] has confirmed that BP is interested in getting involved in the redevelopment of the giant Kirkuk oil field, which is suffering from falling output. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, production at the field has declined to 260,000 barrels a day from 900,000 […]
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 […]
Erbil Governorate has compiled and published a list of the top oil companies in Kurdistan [Note: This list was originally compiled and published by Marcopolis - Ed.]. Please click here to see a list of oil companies with licences granted by the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad. [NEW: An updated list can now be found […]
Who is the biggest winner from the recovery in Iraqi oil production? Denise Natali, a Middle East expert at the National Defense University in Washington, told the New York Times: “The Chinese are the biggest beneficiary of this post-Saddam oil boom in Iraq ... They need energy, and they want to get into the market.” […]
By Sherif Salem. As has often been the case in Iraq, developments in recent weeks have inspired both pessimism and optimism. On the one hand, an increase in bomb attacks – with 300 fatalities in April – raised fears of a return to the peak in levels of violence seen of 2005-2006. And events in […]
Turkish officials are dismayed hearing about US concerns that Turkey’s decision to sign an agreement with ExxonMobil in northern Iraq is perceived as a threat to Iraq’s unity. Noting that it is ExxonMobil, a US company, that is going to do the exploration work in the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) area, the Turkish side […]
By John Lee. Turkish prime minister has said that state-owned Turkiye Petrolleri AO (TPAO) is has reached an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and ExxonMobil to carry out oil exploration in northern Iraq. Tayyip Erdoğan (pictured) told reporters: "Countries from various parts of the world are taking steps to explore and produce oil in […]
By John Lee. Russian news agency RT reports that Rosneft is considering a joint venture with ExxonMobil in Iraq. Company President Igor Sechin (pictured) told reporters: "We will work with anyone who offers good terms, we'll work with ExxonMobil too." An Iraqi oil ministry delegation will visit Moscow on 10th May to discuss the deal. […]
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 […]
The Chairman of PetroChina has told Reuters that his company is willing to join Exxon Mobil in the 400,000-bpd West Qurna-1 oilfield project. Jiang Jiemin (pictured) told the news agency: "We are willing to jointly develop the project with Exxon Mobil. Exxon Mobil welcomed our participation and the Iraqi government also supports us joining the […]
By John Lee. Exxon Mobil has begun exploration for oil in Kurdistan Region, according to a report from PUKmedia. Safeen Dezae, Spokesman for the KRG, told the news agency that the company began its first stage of exploration with the scoping of locations; the second stage will involve exploratory drilling. Regarding the impact of the […]
