Iraq's Ambitious Oil Plans Rely Heavily on Chevron's Expertise

Iraq has ambitious plans to more than double its oil output in six years, from between 4 million and 10 million barrels per day (bpd). The country recently sent a delegation to Saudi Arabia seeking a higher production quota from OPEC. Chevron, one of the world's leading oil companies, is poised to play a key role in supporting this plan.

Chevron has signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the Iraqi government for two oil fields: West Qurna 2 and Nassiriya. The company would assume operational control of one of the world's largest oil fields, West Qurna 2, which currently produces 460,000 bpd.

The field holds an estimated 13 billion barrels of oil and Iraq wants to boost production in this field to between 750,000 and 800,000 bpd after Chevron takes over operations. Meanwhile, Chevron is also working on the Nassiriya project, which includes four exploration blocks and the development of producing fields.

Iraq needs assistance from major global oil companies like Chevron to provide the technical expertise and capital required to develop its fields to their full potential. Other oil giants such as TotalEnergies and BP have also recently signed new deals with Iraq.