Iraqi Oil Minister Dr. Hussein Al-Shahristani has announced the signing of an agreement with the U.S. oil company ExxonMobil and the Dutch oil company Shell to increase the production of the west Qurna oilfield (Qurna is the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iran) from 500,000 barrels/day to 2.325 million barrels/day within the next 6 years.
The agreement is a "Service Agreement," under which the oil companies will receive $1.92 for each incremental barrel of oil. [Oil experts consider the fee "stingy" but the oil companies are looking long-term for a possible production partnership. Iraq has recently signed similar agreements with British Petroleum/China National Oil Company and with the Italian company ENI for the development of various oil fields, primarily in the southern region of Iraq. Iraq is determined to increase its oil production to 6-7 million barrels/day, and thereby to become the second largest oil producer, after Saudi Arabia, among OPEC members. Shell is also negotiating an agreement to liquefy the natural gas from the southern oil fields which is currently being flared.]
Source: Al-Sabah, Iraq, November 7, 2009
