U.S. giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) will be the leader of a multibillion joint water injection project planned to be set up in southern Iraq to help offset a water problem facing oil fields development, a senior Iraqi oil official said Monday.
Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, head of the Iraqi oil ministry's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate, told Dow Jones Newswires that the project would produce between 10 million and 12 million barrels a day of water that would be injected in six oil fields which Iraq recently awarded to international companies. Exxon Mobil is the operator of Iraq's supergiant West Qurna phase 1.
The U.K.-based Gaffney Cline and Associates will provide consultancy on the project as well as handling commercial and contractual issues associated with the plan, Ameedi said.
Other companies which are expected to join forces with Exxon, are Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), operator of Majnoon oil field, Italy's Eni SpA (E), operator of Zubair, Russia OAO Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS), operator of West Qurna Phase 2, China National Petroleum Corp., operator of Halfaya, and Malaysia's Petronas, operator of Garraf.