BP Plc (BP) said Tuesday that the company and China National Petroleum Corporation or CNPC have signed a technical service contract with Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company or SOC to nearly triple production from the Rumaila oilfield in southern Iraq.
According to the agreement, the consortium which is led by BP with 38% stake and partners as CNPC with 37% stake and the government's oil representative SMO with 25% stake agreed to triple the production from the field to almost 3 million barrels of oil a day, or b/d.
BP and CNPC for the next 20 year lifetime of the contract plan to invest approximately $15 billion in cash to increase production to 2.85 million b/d in the second half of the next decade.
The company expects to recover costs, and fees of $2 a barrel earned on the incremental oil production once the production is increased to 10% from its current level of about 1 million b/d.
BP's Chief Executive Tony Hayward said, "The investment in Rumaila will support Iraq in achieving its ambition of becoming a major player in global oil markets once again and will catalyze training and development opportunities for the many thousands of Iraqi workers on Rumaila."
Using a three year memorandum of understanding to provide technical assistance from 2005 to the field, BP has already gained information about the Rumaila field and has knowledge of the field's geology dating back to discovery in 1953.
The Rumaila Field Operating Organization, which would be staffed by employees from South Oil Company and a small number of technical experts and managers from BP and CNPC will manage the project.
BP is currently trading at $57.56, up $0.29 or 0.51% on NYSE.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.