Oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE: RDS.A) has agreed to exit the Majnoon oilfield and hand over its operation to the state-run Basra Oil Co. by the end of June 2018, two oil officials close to the deal said on Nov. 8.
A letter signed by Iraqi oil minister Jabar Luaibi, dated Aug. 23 and seen by Reuters, gave approval for the Anglo-Dutch company to quit Majnoon, a major oilfield near Basra which started production in 2014.
Two Iraqi oil officials said the deal was reached during a meeting between Shell and officials from state-run Basra Oil on Nov. 6 at the Majnoon oilfield.
“We agreed that eight months is quite enough time for Shell to finish preparations to exit Majnoon. Basra Oil Co. will take over operations,” said one official close to the meeting.
Majnoon currently produces around 235,000 barrels of oil per day, oil officials said.
Under the exit agreement, Iraqi workers hired and trained by Shell will stay working in Majnoon, even though development operations will be handled by Iraq or another foreign contractor, said another Iraqi oil official.
A Shell spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Shell said it would focus its efforts on the development and growth of Basra Gas in Iraq after handing over operations of Majnoon to the Iraqi government.
Basra Gas is a joint venture between Shell, South Gas Co., Mitsubishi Corp. and the petrochemical project Nebras.
Recommended Reading
US Raises Crude Production Growth Forecast for 2024
2024-03-12 - U.S. crude oil production will rise by 260,000 bbl/d to 13.19 MMbbl/d this year, the EIA said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook.
Iraq to Seek Bids for Oil, Gas Contracts April 27
2024-04-18 - Iraq will auction 30 new oil and gas projects in two licensing rounds distributed across the country.
TotalEnergies Starts Production at Akpo West Offshore Nigeria
2024-02-07 - Subsea tieback expected to add 14,000 bbl/d of condensate by mid-year, and up to 4 MMcm/d of gas by 2028.
Well Logging Could Get a Makeover
2024-02-27 - Aramco’s KASHF robot, expected to deploy in 2025, will be able to operate in both vertical and horizontal segments of wellbores.
Shell Brings Deepwater Rydberg Subsea Tieback Onstream
2024-02-23 - The two-well Gulf of Mexico development will send 16,000 boe/d at peak rates to the Appomattox production semisubmersible.