BP weighs new oil exploration across southwest Kirkuk

Shafaq News- Kirkuk

British energy giant BP could extend oil and gas exploration into new areas of Kirkuk, including the Hawija district and the al-Riyadh and al-Rashad sub-districts, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Oil and Gas Committee, Mohammed Ali al-Nuaimi, told Shafaq News on Wednesday.

He set out those areas as promising untapped ground during talks with the General Manager of BP in Iraq, Zaid al-Yasiri. The two sides examined technical and investment plans to develop Kirkuk's oil and gas fields, raise production efficiency, and upgrade refineries.

BP maintains a long-standing partnership with Iraq's energy sector and operates under an agreement with the Iraqi government to develop and rehabilitate several Kirkuk fields, including the Kirkuk, Bai Hassan, Jambur, and Khabbaz fields, along with gas and power projects. Iraq activated that contract in October 2025, with initial output set at about 328,000 barrels per day, according to Iraq's Oil Ministry.

According to Oil Ministry spokesman Salim al-Rikabi, BP's work will include rehabilitating and developing Kirkuk oilfields, expanding Northern Gas Company facilities, constructing a 400-megawatt power station, absorbing local labor, implementing social welfare projects, and developing the technical capacity of the North Oil and Northern Gas companies. The projects will also eliminate continuous gas flaring by utilizing produced gas as fuel for power stations, contributing to both economic and environmental benefits.