It comes as little surprise that a host of oil industry majors are queuing up to invest in the Iraqi oil industry. The figures speak volumes: Iraq sits on 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves - the world's third-largest, behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran. And moving in on this vast supply of oil is Italy's Eni, US independent Occidental Petroleum and Korea Gas. The three firms have just inked a deal to develop the Zubair oil field in southern Iraq, in a 20-year contract which involves investing around $20 billion, collectively.
In the deal to develop the Zubair field, Eni has the largest stake in the venture with 32.81%, while Occidental Petroleum holds 23.44% and Kogas 18.75%. Iraq's state-run Missan Oil holds the remaining 25%. The signing of the oil deal comes only a week after industry giants Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas signed a deal with Iraq to develop the 12.8 billion barrel Majnoon oil field.
Next in line and ready to sign are household names ExxonMobil and Shell who are expected to finalise a deal with the government for the development of the West Qurna Phase 1 oil field. It seems the putting on the block of Iraq's oil resources is gathering pace.
On a broader scale, Iraq ambitiously plans to raise oil production levels from where they currently sit at 2 million barrels per day (bpd), to 12 million bpd over the next six years. If this is achieved, it will leave Iraq on a par with Saudi Arabia and Russia in terms of production. While the lion's share of industry experts seem to share the view that the 12 million bpd target is unlikely and that 6-10 million bpd is probably more realistic, it remains an attractive prospect all the same for industry's major firms.
With their eyes firmly set on the long term prize, it seems the oil majors are prepared to forgo concerns over security, such as December's sabotage attack on the pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhaz, and are spending a lot to produce oil for a fairly small per barrel fee. For example, Eni initially asked for $4.80 for each extra barrel of oil which it extracts on top of current production at the field, but later revised its bid downwards to just $2 a barrel.