Shell, Petronas finalize Iraq oil field deal

Oil giant Shell and Malaysia's state-run Petronas oil company have signed a contract to develop Iraq's massive Majnoon oil field in the south of the country.

The consortium beat a rival bid from France's Total and China's CNPC to develop the oil field that has 12.8 billion barrels of proven reserves, because the French-Chinese rival suggested a production plateau of 1.405 million barrels per day (bpd).

Shell and Petronas have vowed to increase the output of the Iraqi oil field to 1.8 million bpd from the current 46,000 bpd.

The contract was signed on Sunday in the presence of Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain Shahristani.

"They will get 68 cents per barrel, which is unprecedented prices in the oil industry," Shihristani said.

Royal Dutch Shell owns 60% of the venture, with Petronas owning the remainder.

Iraq's proven reserves now stand at 115 billion barrels which is behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iraq's daily output is only around 2.4 million barrels but the Middle Eastern country plans to boost its output capacity to 12 million bpd over the next few years.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116433§ionid=3510213.