Exxon Consortium OKs Iraq Contract Changes-Official
A consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp.
(XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) Monday accepted amendments made by the Iraqi government to a service contract to develop the West Qurna Phase 1 oil field in southern Iraq, a senior Iraqi oil ministry official said.
"They have accepted the changes, and we are finalizing the deal with them on Jan. 25," Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, head of the oil ministry's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Exxon Mobil, the first U.S. company to gain access to Iraq's oil reserves, and Shell won the right to develop the oil field, which holds proven oil reserves of 8.7 billion barrels, following the country's historic first post-war oil-bidding round held in June 2009.
The Exxon Mobil/Shell group signed the deal in November
Tarps but was awaiting final approval from the Iraqi government,
after the cabinet made amendments to the agreement.
The government has proposed amendments to the text of all the contracts recently awarded to foreign oil companies, though Iraqi oil officials didn't want to speak about these amendments.
However, a company official said one of these amendments gives the government the right to change the output level from these fields in order to comply with future quotas that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would impose on Iraq.
Also all companies need to insure all related people, works and equipment, the company official said,
adding that Iraq will impose taxes on imported materials and equipment used to develop these fields, although he didn't say how bug these taxes would be.
A Shell executive contacted by Dow Jones Newswires refuse to comment on these amendments.
Under the terms of the deal,
Tarps ExxonMobil and its partner will be paid $1.90 for each extra barrel of oil they extract on top of current production at the field. They pledged to increase production to 2.325 million barrels a day from 279,000 barrels a day.
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