Iraq’s Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said an agreement will be signed with Iran soon to jointly invest in two oilfields shared by the two countries.
Luaibi did not specify the fields and when the agreement would be signed. Nevertheless, it would be a groundbreaking move in the history of economic cooperation between two important oil heavyweights in the region, Press TV reported.
In August, Iraq’s Ambassador to Iran Rajih al-Mussawi said his country was considering a plan to cooperate with Iran in the development of Azadegan oilfield which is shared by the two countries.
Mussawi added that oil ministry officials from the two countries are already in talks to this effect, adding that some ‘good news’ would be announced soon.
Iran’s biggest oilfield in decades
Iran discovered Azadegan oilfield in 1999 in what was the country’s biggest oil find in decades. The country accordingly teamed up with Inpex to push the project toward development. However, the Japanese company later quit the project in what appeared to be the outcome of US sanctions against Iran.
The oilfield was later divided into North Azadegan and South Azadegan. South Azadegan — which is popularly referred to only as Azadegan — is believed to be connected with Iraq’s supergiant Majnoon oilfield with recoverable reserves of 13 billion barrels. It was developed by Shell and is now producing 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil for Iraq.
Earlier this month, Shell announced that it had quit Majnoon. The decision was seen as part of a strategy by the global giant to sell out of its oil fields in Iraq — a move in line with its global $30 billion asset disposal program.
Iran announced in August that it had received proposals from Shell for the development of Azadegan as well as another field also shared with Iraq namely Yadavaran — both in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.
Shell signed a preliminary agreement with the NIOC in December 2016 to study the investment potentials in South Azadegan and Yadavaran as well as the Kish gas field.