BAGHDAD - Iraq's state-owned North Oil company and representatives of the Chinese National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) have put final signatures on a 20-year deal to pump Iraqi crude, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said on Tuesday.
CNPC head Jiang Jiemin and Iraqi officials attended the signing ceremony in the Oil Ministry headquarters in Baghdad, where media were not invited for security reasons, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said.
The two countries announced the deal in August after renegotiating a Saddam Hussein-era production-sharing contract and replacing it with a service contract, which Iraq said would let it keep a greater share of revenue from the Ahdab oil field.
Iraqi officials say the project will produce 115,000 barrels per day by the seventh year of the contract. The project will also provide natural gas for domestic electricity production.
"This is an important participation from the Chinese company to help Iraq develop its oil fields," the oil ministry media office quoted Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani as saying.
"The development of the field will help Iraq to increase crude production and to secure enough fuel for electric power generation."
The agreement was the first major oil deal negotiated by the Iraqi government with a foreign firm since the fall of Saddam in 2003. The government has since gone on to negotiate a natural gas deal with Shell.
CNPC head Jiang Jiemin and Iraqi officials attended the signing ceremony in the Oil Ministry headquarters in Baghdad, where media were not invited for security reasons, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said.
The two countries announced the deal in August after renegotiating a Saddam Hussein-era production-sharing contract and replacing it with a service contract, which Iraq said would let it keep a greater share of revenue from the Ahdab oil field.
Iraqi officials say the project will produce 115,000 barrels per day by the seventh year of the contract. The project will also provide natural gas for domestic electricity production.
"This is an important participation from the Chinese company to help Iraq develop its oil fields," the oil ministry media office quoted Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani as saying.
"The development of the field will help Iraq to increase crude production and to secure enough fuel for electric power generation."
The agreement was the first major oil deal negotiated by the Iraqi government with a foreign firm since the fall of Saddam in 2003. The government has since gone on to negotiate a natural gas deal with Shell.
