Iraq works on southern oil export expansion

LONDON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- British energy company Petrofac said it secured a $75 million contract to help with the expansion of a crude oil export facility at a southern Iraqi port.

Petrofac said it landed a one-year contract with a one-year extension option to help steer a crude oil export expansion program at a facility located about 35 miles offshore at Iraq's southern al-Fao Peninsula.

"The company's principal role is to provide operations and maintenance services for the export facilities," it explained.

Petrofac has a long track record in Iraq, helping with the export of more than 1.5 billion barrels of oil over the past four years.

The Iraqi government is developing the southern export expansion project with the goal of expanding exports capacity from offshore facilities by 150 percent. Petrofac said the total project value, before the one-year contract, was $100 million.

Iraq agreed to cut production by around 200,000 barrels per day to 4.35 million bpd under the terms of a cap agreed to by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-member states. The total cut of 1.2 million bpd starting in January is about what OPEC expects in terms of global oil demand growth next year and the arrangement is aimed at bringing an over-supplied crude oil market back into balance.

During the negotiation phase, Iraq argued it should be exempt from the deal so that its oil revenue could help finance the fight against the terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State, which operates mostly in the northern border regions near Syria.

The Southern Oil Company of Iraq, which awarded the deal to Petrofac, said the one-year contract would help it reach "export milestones."