ExxonMobil will sell more than half of its stake in the West Qurna 1 project to PetroChina and Pertamina, according to a report by Reuters.
The American supermajor is set to sell 25% of its 60% interest to Petrochina, and another 10% to Pertamina. The deal will be closed “maybe after two to three weeks,” Iraq’s Oil Minister, Abdul-Kareem Luaibi said to Reuters after a ministerial meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
The deal reflects Exxon’s declining interest in the project due to lower returns as well as ongoing issues with the Baghdad government, over deals signed by the oil major and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region government, says a report by Seeking Alpha, a platform for investment research.
ExxonMobil gave formal notice that it wishes to sell less than half of its 60% stake in the West Qurna-1 oil field in southern Iraq to PetroChina, according to a Wall Street Journal report. A PetroChina spokesman said the company, “intends to expand its overseas oil and gas investment.” The deal comes two weeks after PetroChina’s parent company, China National Petroleum struck a separate cooperation pact with Exxon in Beijing to jointly invest in projects in China and overseas.
Exxon and minority partner Royal Dutch Shell, which holds a 15% stake in West Qurna-1, has continued to make progress in the $50 billion project. Currently the field produces 510,000 barrels a day and could hit 600,000 barrels a day by the end of this year, says the Wall Street Journal’s report.
