Iraq’s oil contracts make joining OPEC output cut more painful

LONDON/BAGHDAD: Iraq would have to compensate international oil companies for limits placed on their production, according to industry sources and documents seen by Reuters, further reducing the prospect it will join any OPEC deal to curb the group’s output.

The compensation – stipulated in contracts – would compound the financial hit of losing much-needed revenue from crude sales, if the cash-strapped country were to yield to OPEC entreaties to curtail national production.

OPECmemberIraqpaysdevelopers a fixed dollar-denominated fee for every barrel of oil produced in the south of the country - home to its biggest reserves - under technical service contracts agreed between the international firms and the stateowned South Oil Company (SOC).

“Immediately after (an) SOC notice of ... production curtailment, the parties shall agree ... a mechanism to promptly fully compensate (the) contractor as soon as possible,” accordingtoanexcerptof thecontract the ministry signed with BP in 2009 for the company to develop the 20-billionbarrel Rumaila field.

The compensation, according to the excerptseenbyReuters,“mayinclude, amongst other things, a revised field production schedule or an extension to the term or payment of all or part lost income to contractor”.

Britain’s BP declined to comment.

The same clause also applies to other fields covered by the technical service contracts in the south, including fields being developed by Anglo-Dutch firm Shell, US major Exxon Mobil and Italy’s Eni, according to industry sources.

A Shell spokeswoman said it did not comment on contracts. Exxon declined to comment and Eni did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

A senior oil official with SOC told Reuters the country would not have to worry about curtailment clauses because it had no plans to limit production.

“On the contrary, we’re encouraging the foreign companies to raise production as much as they can,” said the official, who declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak publicly.