OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, was the single biggest supplier of crude from the cartel to the United States in May, per data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) cited by Iraqi media outlets Shafaq News and IraqiNews.
It has been over two years since the Baghdad-based Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) placed an embargo on independent oil exports from the Erbil-based Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The legal basis for the halting of these essential flows to the finances of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan was the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) order that they would not be resumed until Turkey paid the FGI the US$1.5 billion in damages for these allegedly unauthorised oil exports over many previous years.
Although the ‘No Iranian Energy Act’ was introduced to U.S. lawmakers on April Fools’ Day it is no joke as far as the Americans are concerned and the Iraqis will find little cause for merriment in its contents either. As highlighted by Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Congressman August Pfluger, this legislation is part of President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran’s leaders.
Turkey is currently in talks to explore for oil and gas in Bulgaria, with similar plans for exploration in Iraq and Libya, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has revealed. According to the minister, state-owned energy company Turkiye Petrolleri AO (TPAO) will sign an agreement with an unnamed foreign partner within the next month to conduct exploration in Bulgaria’s section of the Black Sea.
Wood has secured two engineering and procurement framework agreements worth $11 million from TotalEnergies EP Ratawi Hub to support redevelopment work at Iraq’s Ratawi oil field.
The contracts are part of the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), a multi-energy initiative aimed at improving Iraq’s natural gas production and electricity supply. Under the three-year agreements, Wood will help advance the Associated Gas Upstream Project (AGUP), a key component of GGIP that involves debottlenecking and upgrading existing facilities.
While both countries appear aligned on their strategic goals, several challenges persist. Chief among them is the unresolved dispute over the Iraq–Türkiye Pipeline (ITP), which has halted Iraqi oil exports to Türkiye for over two years due to diplomatic and financial disagreements. The ongoing dispute between Baghdad and the KRG over revenue sharing and control of oil resources adds further complexity. International oil and gas companies operating in the KRG region also withhold cooperation until outstanding fiscal and contractual issues are addressed.
The recent reiteration by Iraq Oil Ministry of a 7 million barrels per day (bpd) oil production target within the next five years has spurred activity among Chinese firms that continue to dominate the country’s oil and gas sector. As it stands, more than a third of all Iraq’s proven oil and gas reserves and over two-thirds of its current production are managed by Beijing’s companies, according to industry figures. This translates into Chinese companies having a combined direct share in around 24 billion barrels of reserves and responsibility for production of around 3.0 million bpd. The latest in the very long line of Beijing’s firms to benefit from its ongoing stealthy takeover of Iraq’s huge oil and gas assets is China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Company (HQC), which has signed a huge project management consultancy contract for the supergiant West Qurna 1 oilfield.
Iran is targeting a dramatic increase in oil production from the fields it shares with neighbouring Iraq, according to the chief executive officer of its Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), Nasrollah Zarei. These include its enormous Azadegan oil field (split into North and South sites) that sits on the same reservoir as Iraq’s huge Majnoon site, and the massive Yadavaran oil field which occupies the same reservoir as Iraq’s Sinbad site. Other notable major shared fields – among many others — are Azar (on the Iran side)/Badra (on the Iraq side), Naft Shahr (Iran)/Naft Khana (Iraq), Dehloran (Iran)/Abu Ghurab (Iraq), West Paydar (Iran)/Fakka (Iraq), and Arvand (Iran)/South Abu Ghurab (Iraq). This is part of a broader-based plan to bring output across all Iran’s major fields in the ultra-rich oil field cluster of West Karoun to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from the current 480,000 bpd.
After a series of internal meetings at Iraq’s Oil Ministry over the past two weeks, talks with several international energy companies have begun with the aim of finally kickstarting developments on the country’s key non-associated gas fields, a senior source who works closely with the Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com last week. “It’s finally sunk in that the jig’s up with the U.S. and Iran [Washington’s previous granting of waivers to Iraq to keep importing gas and electricity from Tehran], which means everyone’s now scrambling around trying to work out how they’re going increase gas output to levels that prevent rolling blackouts all year round,” the source said. “There are good options available to it [the Ministry], but they all have major political consequences attached, so the decisions in the coming weeks won’t be straightforward,” he added.
bp has received final government ratification for its contract to invest in the redevelopment of several giant oil fields in Kirkuk, in the north of Iraq.
The contract between North Oil Company (NOC), North Gas Company (NGC) and bp includes the rehabilitation and redevelopment of the fields, spanning oil, gas, power and water with potential for investment in exploration.