Iraq to review some oil contracts at high-cost fields

Iraq is reviewing oil contracts with some companies operating fields where costs are high, in order to reduce expenses while cutting production, Al-Sabah newspaper quoted the country’s oil minister as saying.

“The ministry has a vision to open the door for negotiation with companies and has begun looking into some of these oil contracts, and the ministry is moving towards reviewing oil fields with high production costs,” Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

“It is being discussed and studied with service companies that are working with Iraq to develop production in oil fields, and there is an evaluation and reassessment to some of the contracts, not all.”

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It is in OPEC member Iraq’s interest to cooperate with the OPEC+ group to raise the market value of oil, the minister said.

Earlier this month Iraq told OPEC+ - a group comprised of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies - that it would start an urgent plan to cut its oil production gradually to fully comply with its quota, after the group demanded that Baghdad and other laggards adhere to a pact on output curbs.