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A senior Iraqi oil official has said that the US$500 million signature bonus for the development contract for the super giant Rumaila field has been paid by the supermajors BP and CNPC.
Reuters reported that the head of the South Oil Company, Dhiya Jaafar, also said that the consortium has agreed to a minimum production level of 1.066 million barrels of oil per day (bpd). It is hoped that the field will eventually yield 2.85 million bpd.
“The effective date for the Rumaila contract was December 17 and they (BP and CNPC) notified us in recent days that we would receive $500 million. We have concluded the bank transfer,” Jaafar is reported by Reuters as saying.
The 20-year development contract for Rumaila, located in the southern province of Basra, was the first of Iraq’s vast oilfields to be awarded.
The $500 million bonus is a “soft” loan that will be paid back to the consortium through 20 quarterly payments. The companies have the option of accepting cash or oil as payment.
BP has a 38% stake in the venture with CNPC holding a 37% stake and the South Oil Company holding the remaining 25%.
