Iraq and Exxon Mobil will sign an agreement on Wednesday for the management, development and operation of the Majnoon oilfield in southern Iraq, marking the oil major’s return to the country after a two-year hiatus, four Iraqi official sources told Reuters.
The agreement will include upgrading Iraqi oil export infrastructure in the south, and a profit-sharing crude oil and refined products trading agreement, the four sources with knowledge of the matter added.
Iraq’s state oil company SOMO will also sign an agreement with Exxon to secure storage capacity in the Asian market, the sources said.
SOMO and Exxon did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Iraqi state news agency INA reported in September that SOMO was in advanced talks with Exxon over a possible agreement to secure storage capacity in Singapore using tanks owned by the U.S. oil major.
In the past two years, Iraq has signed agreements with oil majors that had previously retreated from the country, including Chevron, France’s TotalEnergies and UK oil major BP.
(Reporting by Aref Mohammed in Basra and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)