Chevron Secures One-Year Exclusive Rights to Negotiate Takeover of Iraq's West Qurna 2 Oil Field

Chevron secured one year of exclusive negotiation rights to finalize commercial and operational terms for taking over operatorship of Iraq's supergiant West Qurna 2 oil field, advancing a shift in control from Russia's Lukoil following tightened U.S. sanctions on Russian firms. The arrangement was made through a $200 million advance on a prospective signing bonus, according to local media sources confirmed to OilPrice.com by a senior source close to Iraq's Oil Ministry. West Qurna 2, located 65 kilometers northwest of Basra, holds roughly 14 billion barrels of reserves and produced about 400,000 barrels per day under Lukoil, around 9% of Iraq's output at the time. A senior Oil Ministry source said the government expects Chevron to double the field's output within a relatively short time; the working figure for peak production is now 800,000 bpd, down from an original 1.2 million bpd contract target. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said before the agreement that the company remains "months" away from finalizing a definitive long-term contract.