Iraq Council of Ministers approves BP contract for Kirkuk oil fields

Iraq's Council of Ministers approved the final version of a contract between energy group BP and the oil ministry to rehabilitate and develop the Kirkuk oil fields, according to a March 18 statement from the prime minister's office.

The ministry, represented by the North Oil Company and the North Gas Company, first initialed the final version of the BP deal on March 10, and work should begin soon to rehabilitate and develop the Kirkuk Field Domes of Baba and Avana, and the neighboring oil fields of Bai Hassan, Jumboor and Khabaz.

The Council of Ministers has also greenlit further progress on the Faw onshore terminal project that aims to increase export capacity from the southern Gulf terminals by around 500,000 b/d.

A tender awarded to a consortium of Italy's Esta and Turkey's Micoperd was approved that will allow work on sea line three to be completed.

Sea line three, which joins the Faw onshore terminal to single point mooring 4 (SPM4), near the Khor al-Amaya (KAA) terminal, had been laid three years ago, but it lacked valve systems and the necessary integration into the existing SPM system. The tender duration is 757 days, including the early work.

Finally, the Council of Ministers has approved the joint management committee's decision that China's CPP will construct the pipelines transporting the raw gas from the fields of Majnoon, West Qurna 2 and Ratawi to the gas processing plant being constructed as part of the giant Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP) project being developed by a TotalEnergies-led consortium.

CPP will also build the resulting dry gas connection to the national network, as well as the network to transport condensates and liquid gas to Khor al-Zubair. They will also allocate some of the work to state-owned Oil Projects Company (SCOP). The pipeline network is critical to implementing the GGIP project.