عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Iraq to Boost West Qurna 1 Production by 50K bpd

A security man in front of the gate of the West Qurna 1 oil field operating authority. (Reuters)
A security man in front of the gate of the West Qurna 1 oil field operating authority. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Iraq to Boost West Qurna 1 Production by 50K bpd

A security man in front of the gate of the West Qurna 1 oil field operating authority. (Reuters)
A security man in front of the gate of the West Qurna 1 oil field operating authority. (Reuters)

US energy giant ExxonMobil Corp has formally exited the West Qurna 1 oilfield in southern Iraq and handed over its operations to PetroChina as lead contractor, a deputy oil minister told Reuters on Monday.
Iraq and PetroChina plan to boost production by 50,000 to 600,000 bpd at the end of 2024, Basim Mohammed, deputy oil minister for upstream affairs, said.
Senior Iraqi oil officials met with executives from ExxonMobil, PetroChina, and Basra Oil Co on Monday at the West Qurna 1 field near Basra to mark Exxon's complete exit and the handover of its operations to PetroChina.
"We are meeting today to bid farewell to ExxonMobil, and at the same time we congratulate PetroChina for becoming the lead contractor," Mohammed said.
PetroChina holds the largest stake in the field after the departure of Exxon.
Last year, Iraq signed a sale agreement to acquire 22.7% of ExxonMobil's stake in West Qurna 1 by Iraq's state-run Basra Oil Co.(BOC), while Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina bought the remaining 10% of Exxon’s stake, increasing its share to 20%.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

Ukraine Receives First 3 Bln Euro Tranche of G7 Loan from EU

An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
TT
TT

Ukraine Receives First 3 Bln Euro Tranche of G7 Loan from EU

An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Ukraine received its first 3 billion euro ($3.09 billion) tranche of the European Union's portion of the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loan agreed for Ukraine by the G7 group of countries, its prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.

It was the first tranche of EU loan secured by profits from frozen Russian assets, Shmyhal wrote on the Telegram app.

G7 leaders in October agreed to provide some $50 billion in loans to Ukraine via multiple channels.
"Today, we deliver €3 billion to Ukraine, the 1st payment of the EU part of the G7 loan. Giving Ukraine the financial power to continue fighting for its freedom – and prevail," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media platform X.

In other economic news, Ukraine's steel output rose by 21.6% in 2024 to 7.58 million metric tons, its producers union said late on Thursday, though fighting that is closing in on the country's only coking coal mine threatens to slash volumes this year.

Steel production has already suffered since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has led to the destruction of leading steel plants.

Ukraine, formerly a major steel producer and exporter, reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million tons. It fell to 6 million tons in 2023.

The steelmakers' union said in October the potential closure of the Pokrovsk mine, Ukraine's only coking coal mine, could cause steel production to slump to 2-3 million metric tons in 2025.
Advancing Russian forces are less than 2 km (1.24 miles) from the mine, Ukrainian military analyst DeepState said on Friday.
The mine's owner, steelmaker Metinvest BV, said last month it had already halted some operations at the mine and two industry sources said it was operating at 50% capacity.
Producers have said they hope to find coking coal from elsewhere in Ukraine should the mine be seized by Russian troops, but imports would inevitably be needed which would raise costs.