Iraq, Petronas, Japex Ink Deal for Gharraf Oilfield‎

Iraq initialled a deal with Malaysia's Petronas and Japan's Japex on 21 December 2009 to develop the Gharraf oil field in southern Iraq, Iraqi Oil Ministry Spokesman, Assem Jihad, said.

"Today, the Oil Ministry initialled a contract with the Petronas-Japex consortium," Jihad said.

The two companies are aiming to ramp up output at the field, which has known reserves of 863 million barrels of oil, to 230,000 bpd. They will receive fees of US$1.49 per barrel produced.

Petronas will take 60% while Japex will take the remaining 40%. Iraq auctioned Garraf to the pair on 12 December 2009, the second day of a two-day oil field auction which dramatically increased Iraq's projected crude production to 12 million bpd within seven years.- Reuters