Foreign companies ExxonMobil, BP and Eni plan to invest
about $100 billion to upgrade three oilfields in southern Iraq, according to
the top energy advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister.
Down Jones Newswires quoted Thamer Ghadhban saying $50
billion would be spent by ExxonMobil an its partners to upgrade the supergiant
West Qurna 1 field.
He added the remaining $50 billion would be spent by BP and
Eni to upgraded the Rumaila and Zubair oil fields respectively.
"We have $100 billion for the three fields,"
Ghadhban was quoted telling reporters on the sidelines of an Iraqi energy
conference in Istanbul on Wednesday.
"The bulk (of the finance) is for West Qurna 1 because
the Rumaila and Zubair fields were well advanced in terms of development, such
as number of wells, oil field facilities, other infrastructure, while West
Qurna phase 1 needs more.”
Dow Jones reported the three fields were currently
responsible for 2 million billion barrels per day of Iraq’s 2.9 million bpd
output.
Output from the fields should reach at least 6.8 million bpd
by 2017 according to deals the companies signed two years ago for the fields.