ExxonMobil, the lead stakeholder and operator of the West Qurna 1 concession in Iraq, has signed a $100 million drilling deal with state-owned Iraq Drilling Co (IDC).
The contract will see IDC drill 20 wells in the next 24 months, as Exxon strives to reach production capacity of 2.25 million barrels per day in return for a gross fee per barrel of $1.90 to the Exxon-led consortium developing the field.
IDC has drilled dozens of wells in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The company has bid together with major oil services firms Schlumberger and Weatherford for contracts at Rumaila.
Exxon is the lead contractor at West Qurna-1, with a 60% stake, while Shell has 15% and the remaining 25% belongs to the Iraqi state. Exxon and Shell spent a combined $910 million on West Qurna-1 last year and were repaid $470 million in cash.
The US supermajor, which is slated to pour $25 billion into the field over the term of the field development contract it signed in November 2009, has now agreed to take its fees in oil.
