PetroChina Officially Takes Over! Became The Lead Contractor Of The West Qurna Phase 1 Oil Field in Iraq
Jan 08, 2024
According to PetroChina's official WeChat account on January 2, a handover ceremony for the lead contractor of Iraq's West Qurna Phase 1 oil field was held in Basra, the southern province of Iraq, on the 1st. PetroChina officially succeeded ExxonMobil Oil Company as West Qurna 1. Lead contractor for future oil fields.
The West Qurna Oilfield is one of the oilfields in Iraq that has discovered exploitable remaining reserves and huge production potential. It is located about 50 kilometers northwest of Basra, the capital of Basra Province, with an annual crude oil output of over 25 million tons. The oil resources here have the "three lows" characteristics of low water content, low degree of recovery, and low oil recovery rate.
According to reference news citing Reuters, the oil field is one of the largest oil fields in the world, with estimated recoverable reserves of more than 20 billion barrels (approximately 2.7 billion tons). After ExxonMobil withdrew, PetroChina held the largest stake in the field. It is reported that the current daily output of the West Qurna-1 oil field is about 550,000 barrels.
At the same time, Basra Oil Company said that Iraq and PetroChina plan to increase the output of the oil field to 600,000 barrels per day by the end of 2024.
What is a lead contractor? When an oil field project is very important and complex, several partners (big oil companies) are involved as a consortium. However, there will be a "big brother" in the consortium, that is, the lead contractor. When there are important matters that require a statement or a major decision that requires voting, the lead contractor's act of signing a contract with the tenderer is equivalent to all parties in the consortium jointly agreeing with the tenderer. People sign contracts.
As one of the world's largest oil fields, the West Qurna Phase 1 oil field has attracted the favor of many oil giants. The oilfield development company's shareholders include PetroChina, Iraq's Basra Oil Company, Japan's Itochu Corporation, Indonesia's National Petroleum Corporation and the Iraqi Petroleum Exploration Company, of which PetroChina holds the largest share.
