BP's Iraq project has potential but challenges too

BP's recent oil and gas field project win in Iraq has potential for production gains but also faces several challenges

Catharina Milostan 3 July, 2009 | 11:20AM
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BP and China National Petroleum Company were the lone winners among major oil companies bidding to work in eight Iraqi oil and gas fields and received a 20-year service contract to develop Iraq's Rumaila field. BP and its partner get first crack at helping Iraq with much-needed redevelopment work and the potential for future contracts. BP will work at Iraq's largest oil field, Rumaila, in southern Iraq near Basra. This field has the largest proved reserves with potential for production gains.

However, there are several challenges. The bidding group had to cut its remuneration fee from $3.99 per barrel to $2, a level other bidders were not willing to accept. Details of this deal still need to be developed and disclosed before we can determine potential project economics and benefits for BP. Given the large resource potential of the Rumaila field, BP could benefit from potential production gains after repairs and field development are completed. While this deal represents a major step in Iraq, it is just one project in BP's diverse global upstream portfolio. Given the early stages of this project, we're keeping our fair value estimate unchanged until we can see when production gains and fees to BP and its partners can actually be realised.

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Catharina Milostan  Catharina Milostan is a stock analyst with Morningstar.

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