BP, Lukoil eyes divestments in Iraq: oil ministry
Iraq's oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said in a video posted on Facebook on July 3 that BP was considering its withdrawal from the Rumaila oilfield in the country, while Russia's Lukoil had notified the ministry it wanted to divest its stake in another large oil project West Qurna-2 to Chinese companies.
The two companies have concluded that the investment climate in Iraq is no longer suitable, Abdul Jabbar said.
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BP has been working at Rumail since 2009, controlling a 47.6% interest in the project. Its partners are China's CNPC and Iraq's state-owned Somo. The super-giant oilfield has been flowing since 1953, and is estimated to hold 17bn barrels of remaining recoverable reserves, according to BP's website. It produces at a rate of 1.5mn barrels/day.
West Qurna 2, with around 14bn barrels of reserves, currently flows around 400,000 b/d, although Lukoil has a plan in place to double this to 800,000 b/d by 2025.