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Released April 04, 2025 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--U.K. energy major BP (NYSE:BP) (London, England) has been granted final permission for the redevelopment of a number of oilfields in the disputed Kirkuk region of northern Iraq.
The deal between BP, Iraq's state-owned North Gas Company (NGC) and Qatar's joint venture, North Oil Company (NOC), was signed off by Iraq's Prime Minister H.E. Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani, opening the way for the rehabilitation and redevelopment of the fields, spanning oil, gas, power and water with potential for investment in exploration. It follows on from a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed late last year. Kirkuk boasts four oil fields: the Avanah and Baba Domes, Bai Hassan, Jambur and Khabbaz fields with an estimated combined resources of up to 9 billion barrels of oil (BOE) and billions of cubic feet of associated natural gas. The province also has a refining capacity of approximately 200,000 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d). Kirkuk is one of Iraq's disputed regions with ongoing struggles between the Iraqi government, the local Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and other factions. The first steps will involve the creation of a new company with staff "predominantly" from NOC and NGC, but also with staff seconded from BP.
"BP has a decades-long history in Iraq, and we look forward to building on this as we embark on our next chapter of production in the country," said Murray Auchincloss, chief executive officer of BP. "From signing a memorandum of understanding last year to now fully completing our agreement, we're looking forward to getting to work. Together with our partners, we aim to deliver world-class operations, combining deep local knowledge with our expertise in managing giant fields and safely executing major projects. This is an enormous opportunity as we grow bp's oil and gas business and fully aligned with our strategy of strengthening our upstream portfolio."
The agreement is for an initial phase that includes oil and gas production of more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). BP claimed that the wider resource opportunity across the contract and surrounding area is believed to include "up to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent." BP is expected to spend as much as US$25 billion over the course of the full project, which will see Kirkuk boost production to 420,000 BBL/d from 300,000 BBL/d today. It will, according to the Iraqi government, "invest in associated gas by rehabilitating and expanding the facilities of the North Gas Company to produce 400 million standard cubic feet per day and constructing a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of 400 megawatts (MW). Lacking sufficient processing today, the investment in new NOC facilities will "contribute to stopping the continuous flaring of associated gas from crude oil production by optimally utilizing it and providing the fuel needed for power plants."
Kirkuk's oil was first discovered in 1927 with the help of the British Petroleum Company, later BP. Crude oil was extracted and exported by Turkish Petroleum Corporation, later to be renamed the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), which was co-owned by BP and a number of other international companies. BP ended operations in Iraq in the early 1970s after nationalization of the country's resources. Some years after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the U.S. and its allies, BP began efforts to re-establish itself in the region. It conducted a technical evaluation of the southern-Iraq Rumaila field with the Ministry of Oil and in 2009, with Chinese state oil firm PetroChina (Beijing, China), was awarded a technical service contract (TSC) to increase production at Rumaila, with state-owned oil company, Basra Oil Company (BOC). Today, the companies are working in partnership to develop Rumaila, the second-largest producing field in the world, estimated to have around 17 billion barrels of recoverable oil remaining.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
The deal between BP, Iraq's state-owned North Gas Company (NGC) and Qatar's joint venture, North Oil Company (NOC), was signed off by Iraq's Prime Minister H.E. Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani, opening the way for the rehabilitation and redevelopment of the fields, spanning oil, gas, power and water with potential for investment in exploration. It follows on from a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed late last year. Kirkuk boasts four oil fields: the Avanah and Baba Domes, Bai Hassan, Jambur and Khabbaz fields with an estimated combined resources of up to 9 billion barrels of oil (BOE) and billions of cubic feet of associated natural gas. The province also has a refining capacity of approximately 200,000 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d). Kirkuk is one of Iraq's disputed regions with ongoing struggles between the Iraqi government, the local Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and other factions. The first steps will involve the creation of a new company with staff "predominantly" from NOC and NGC, but also with staff seconded from BP.
"BP has a decades-long history in Iraq, and we look forward to building on this as we embark on our next chapter of production in the country," said Murray Auchincloss, chief executive officer of BP. "From signing a memorandum of understanding last year to now fully completing our agreement, we're looking forward to getting to work. Together with our partners, we aim to deliver world-class operations, combining deep local knowledge with our expertise in managing giant fields and safely executing major projects. This is an enormous opportunity as we grow bp's oil and gas business and fully aligned with our strategy of strengthening our upstream portfolio."
The agreement is for an initial phase that includes oil and gas production of more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). BP claimed that the wider resource opportunity across the contract and surrounding area is believed to include "up to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent." BP is expected to spend as much as US$25 billion over the course of the full project, which will see Kirkuk boost production to 420,000 BBL/d from 300,000 BBL/d today. It will, according to the Iraqi government, "invest in associated gas by rehabilitating and expanding the facilities of the North Gas Company to produce 400 million standard cubic feet per day and constructing a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of 400 megawatts (MW). Lacking sufficient processing today, the investment in new NOC facilities will "contribute to stopping the continuous flaring of associated gas from crude oil production by optimally utilizing it and providing the fuel needed for power plants."
Kirkuk's oil was first discovered in 1927 with the help of the British Petroleum Company, later BP. Crude oil was extracted and exported by Turkish Petroleum Corporation, later to be renamed the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), which was co-owned by BP and a number of other international companies. BP ended operations in Iraq in the early 1970s after nationalization of the country's resources. Some years after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the U.S. and its allies, BP began efforts to re-establish itself in the region. It conducted a technical evaluation of the southern-Iraq Rumaila field with the Ministry of Oil and in 2009, with Chinese state oil firm PetroChina (Beijing, China), was awarded a technical service contract (TSC) to increase production at Rumaila, with state-owned oil company, Basra Oil Company (BOC). Today, the companies are working in partnership to develop Rumaila, the second-largest producing field in the world, estimated to have around 17 billion barrels of recoverable oil remaining.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
