Halliburton Wins Oil Services Contract in Iraq

Bloomberg Businessweek, Apr 11, 2011
Halliburton Co. said Monday that it has been contracted by Exxon Mobil Corp. to use three drilling rigs to provide oil drilling services at a large field under development in southern Iraq.

The contract from ExxonMobil Iraq Ltd. covers services for 15 wells at the 8.6 billion-barrel West Qurna Phase I oil field, one of Iraq's largest. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Exxon's partners in the Qurna project include two Iraqi state-owned companies and an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell PLC. ExxonMobil Iraq is the lead contractor on the field, with a 60 percent stake [please see remarks below -- D.R.]. It said last month that initial field production at the Qurna I field increased 17 percent to 285,000 barrels per day, exceeding its 10 percent improvement target. Under an agreement between Iraq and the companies, production from the West Qurna I field should reach 2.825 million barrels a day after 6 to 7 years [please see my post here -- D.R.].

Shares of Houston-based Halliburton rose 8 cents to $48.21 in morning trading. [Full story]

(ExxonMobil subsidiary Exxon Mobil Iraq Limited with 60% interest is the lead contractor working with the South Oil Company of Iraq to redevelop and expand the West Qurna I field along with the Oil Exploration Company of Iraq with 25% interest and Shell West Qurna B.V., a Royal Dutch Shell affiliate -- 15% interest. In August 2010, Halliburton announced it had been awarded a contract by Italian oil company Eni to provide a range of integrated energy services to help redevelop the Zubair field in southern Iraq. Halliburton will perform services such as wire-line logging, perforating, acidizing and well testing on 20 wells. For Iraq's oil production targets, please read my post "Iraq Says to Produce 6.5 mil b/d by 2014; Disputes IMF Figures," here. For Halliburton's profits, please see my post here, including remarks. -- D.R.)