Anton, Petrofac to Develop Iraqi Oilfield

The Iraqi Oil Ministry signed a two-year contract with Anton Oilfield Services and Petrofac on Thursday to operate the giant Majnoon Oilfield, the companies' oil executives said. The companies will operate the southern oilfield on behalf of Iraqi state-owned Basra Oil Company that is taking over operations there from Royal Dutch Shell, Reuters reported. Shell had announced its intention to exit the field, which started production in 2014, by the end of June 2018. The Integrated Field Management Support contract for Majnoon signed with Anton and Petrofac can be renewed after two years, the executives said. The executives, one Iraqi and one foreign, are involved in the project but declined to be identified. Basra Oil said in February it plans to raise output at Majnoon to 450,000 bpd in three years, from 240,000 bpd now, by adding a new production platform. With an output of 4.4 million bpd in March, Iraq is the second-largest producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.