BP set to invest up to $25 billion in Iraq’s Kirkuk oil and gas

Shafaq News/ British oil major BP (BP.L) is poised to invest up to $25 billion over the lifetime of a project to redevelop four oil and gas fields in Iraq’s Kirkuk, a senior Iraqi oil official told Reuters.
The deal, expected to be signed in the coming weeks, would mark a significant breakthrough for Iraq, where oil output has been constrained by years of war, corruption, and political instability, the official said.
BP would enter a profit-sharing agreement lasting over 25 years, with investments ranging between $20 billion and $25 billion, the official added. The scale of the investment has not previously been disclosed.
BP declined to comment to Reuters on the latest developments but referred to a statement issued last month, saying it had made significant progress with the Iraqi government toward an agreement supporting the redevelopment of Kirkuk oil fields.
The agreement would be Iraq’s second major deal with an international oil company in two years, following a $27 billion agreement with France’s TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) in Basra.
The BP project focuses on rehabilitating infrastructure in four oilfields and developing natural gas to help meet Iraq’s domestic energy needs.
According to the official, technical and economic negotiations are progressing well, and final contracts could be signed as early as this week or by mid-February.
Under the deal, the official said, BP would increase crude production capacity in Kirkuk by 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the next two to three years, raising total capacity to at least 450,000 bpd, up from the current 300,000 bpd, the official said.
Under the proposed profit-sharing model, BP would recover costs and begin generating profits once production exceeds current output levels, the senior oil official added.