BP, Iraq sign most commercial terms to revive Kirkuk oil field

(Bloomberg) – BP and the Iraqi government agreed the majority of commercial terms toward reviving the Kirkuk oil field on Tuesday, further progress toward a final agreement that is expected early this year.

BP’s board chairman, Helge Lund, and Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani were among those in attendance at Tuesday evening’s meeting in London, where the two sides signed the majority of commercial terms, BP said Wednesday.

“The teams will now work to define the remaining detail, ahead of a fully-termed agreement” in 2025, a BP spokesperson said in a statement.

BP is scheduled to provide a company-wide strategy update in February, where its Iraq plans are expected to be key to the company’s upstream future. Kirkuk is estimated to have around 9 billion barrels of recoverable oil ‎remaining.‎

BP is one of the biggest foreign companies in Iraq, with a presence dating back a century. The British company, whose forbears helped discover Kirkuk in the 1920s, produces oil from the Rumaila field.