A consortium led by Italian energy giant ENI has initialed a contract with the government of Iraq to explore the Zubair oilfield located in southern Iraq, an oil ministry spokesman has revealed.
The consortium also includes Occidental Petroleum of the US and Korea Gas Corp. Terms were agreed on the deal last month, with the consortium agreeing to $2 for every extra barrel it extracts on top of current production at Zubair.
“Yes, it was initialled today and it will go to the cabinet to be approved in the next few days,” spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP. “After that, it will be signed and then implemented.”
The field produces around 195,000 barrels per day according to ENI. The firm expects that figure to increase to 1.13 million bpd by 2016.
Iraq has the world’s third largest proven oil reserves with more than 115 million barrels.
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