Malaysia’s Petronas to sell its share in Gharraf oilfield to Indonesia’s Pertamina
The central production facility at the Al-Gharraf oilfield in southern Iraq. Photo: JAPEX
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas notified Iraq of its intention to sell its share in the Gharraf oilfield to the Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas company, Pertamina, Mees News reported.
The departure of Petronas is expected to be a hard battle, as the Iraqi Ministry of Oil is thinking of a takeover deal with Dhi Qar Oil Company (DQOC).
Baghdad is not happy with the reluctance of the Malaysian company to develop production from the Yamama reservoir in southern Iraq, according to Mees News.
The Malaysian company revealed in October 2020 that it was reviewing its presence at Iraq’s Gharraf oilfield and has now informed the Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, of its intention to leave.
Petronas did not respond to a request for comment, while an official in the Iraqi Oil Ministry declined to either confirm or deny, Mees News added.
In October 2020, Petronas announced it was thinking of exiting the Gharraf oilfield in Iraq amid sustained low oil prices that have limited the appeal of the investment.
Petronas and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (Japex) started investing between $7 billion and $8 billion in 2009 to develop Iraq’s Gharraf oilfield.
The Gharraf oilfield is located in Dhi Qar governorate, 85 kilometers north of the city of Nasiriyah. The oilfield that was discovered in 1984 has reserves ranging between 860 million and one billion barrels of oil.