IRAQ: Shell and Petronas sign final Majnoon oil deal

Record ID: 343664

  • Title: IRAQ: Shell and Petronas sign final Majnoon oil deal
  • Date: 18th January 2010
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 17, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REPRESENTATIVES OF IRAQ'S OIL MINISTRY SIGNING FINAL CONTRACT WITH ROYAL DUTCH SHELL AND MALAYSIA'S PETRONAS IRAQ'S OIL MINISTER HUSSAIN AL-SHAHRISTANI ATTENDING THE SIGNING CEREMONY COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES SHAKING HANDS OF IRAQI OIL MINISTRY REPRESENTATIVE AS THEY EXCHANGE OIL DEAL PAPERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PET
  • Embargoed: 2nd February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA5J10PFYRLIDY279C36QHYP923
  • Story Text: Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, and Malaysia's Petronas signed a final contract on Sunday (January 17) to develop Iraq's Majnoon oilfield, one of the world's biggest.
    Shell and Petronas won the rights in an auction held in Baghdad in December for the 12.6 billion barrel field in southern Iraq.
    The 20-year development contract is one of several deals that Iraq expects to finalise in the coming weeks as it tries to catapult itself to third place from 11th in the league of oil-producing nations.
    The deal was signed at Iraq's oil ministry in the presence of Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani, Shell's chief executive, Peter Voser, and a vice-president of Shell Gas and Power, Mounir Bouaziz.
    The signing ceremony was delayed for several hours by the late arrival of Voser's plane.
    "We have been working in Iraq for around 50 years and we look forward to actually come back and bring our technology and our people into Iraq in order to actually develop the oilfields of Iraq in order to actually bring the oil to the worldwide customers. So, we are very pleased and we are looking forward to a good cooperation with both the government, also the South Oil Company and but also our partner Petronas," Voser said.
    Al-Shahristani said that Iraq is looking forward to fruitful cooperation as the two companies start work at the oilfield on Monday (January 18).
    "We look forward to fruitful cooperation. I have met the two companies and they have confirmed that they will start work at the field from tomorrow, as they have signed the contract today. They are ready for the work and we hope to work together to develop this important oilfield," Al-Shahristani added.
    The Majnoon deal is a key to Iraq's ambitious plans to revive its stagnant oil sector after years of war and economic sanctions that allowed infrastructure to fall into disrepair.
    Iraq hopes to boost output capacity to 12 million barrels per day (bpd) -- rivalling Saudi Arabia and Russia -- from around 2.5 million bpd now. Majnoon, near the southern oil hub of Basra, is one of the world's biggest largely untapped fields.
    Royal Dutch Shell owns 60 percent of the venture, with Malaysia's state-run Petronas holding the rest. The companies proposed a remuneration fee of $1.39 per barrel and a plateau production target of 1.8 million bpd compared with current output of just under 50,000 bpd.
    Shell officials have said the companies would invest "tens of billions" of dollars over the life of the deal.
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