BP CEO signs non-binding deal to return to Iraqi oilfield

BP

• MoU to return to Kirkuk in northern Iraq
• Negotiations to be completed in 2025
• Includes Baba and Avanah domes

BP, the London-listed oil major, has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Iraqi government to return to the super-giant Kirkuk oilfield in the north of the country. 

The agreement includes the Baba and Avanah domes and three adjacent fields – Bai Hassan, Jambur and Khabbaz – which are operated by the government of Iraq’s North Oil Company (NOC). 

BP’s CEO Murray Auchincloss signed the agreement with Iraq’s prime minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani and oil minister Hayan Abdul Ghani on August 1. The oil major said that negotiations are expected to be completed early next year. 

---

---

Iraq, currently the second highest producer in Opec, wants to nearly double oil production to 8 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2028.  

Although it is one of the oldest and largest oilfields in the world, Kirkuk has proved problematic to develop since the days of the US-led invasion.

BP had previously won a contract to scope and analyse the field but pulled out in 2019 although it has remained involved in the super-giant Rumaila field in the south of Iraq. 

BP and other big Western oil companies have fallen foul of the Iraqi parliament’s notoriously tough terms but also of Kirkuk’s status which is disputed by elements in Iraqi Kurdistan.  

• Gas flaring to end in next five years, says Iraq
• Opec quotas force Iraq, Russia and Kazakhstan oil cuts
• BP buys 49% of Oman’s green hydrogen project

However in April last year the French major TotalEnergies signed a $10 billion agreement to develop the Gas Growth Integrated Project in the south of Iraq to decrease gas flaring, develop a solar plant and build a long-delayed seawater desalination plant to reinject water into ageing fields. 

Then in June this year KBR, the US oilfield services giant and a significant contractor for the majors, won a five-year $46 million deal to support Iraq’s infrastructure development and said it was expanding its presence in the country. 

Analysts have previously warned of Iraqi over-reliance on Chinese contractors. The oil picture in Iraq is also complicated by exports from Iraqi Kurdistan which travel through Turkey.