Baghdad – The activity of the Iraqi oil sector has finally accelerated in terms of conclusion of agreements and projects with foreign companies, which made the list of the largest oil transactions in March 2025 for the second consecutive month, while economic experts believe that the direct economic return of these agreements can be limited in the short term.
Iraq for the second consecutive month occupied the main site on the list of 5 largest oil offers in March 2025, thanks to two transactions, one of which was introduced by a unique and distinct technique to discover the faults, while the other had to develop fields of oil to the governor of Kirkuk, according to a report by the energy platform.
On March 26, Iraq concluded an agreement with the British Oil Company (BP), to develop 4 oil fields to the governor of Kirkuk, and it should add around 150,000 barrels per day to the country’s production capacity.
According to the agreement, the British company will invest around $ 25 billion in the development of the 4 oil fields in Iraq, because this amount includes investments in oil, gas, energy and water.
Iraq has witnessed a technical agreement to exploit robots to discover oil pipelines, while the Iraqi central oil company signed the agreement with the Chinese company (EBS) operating for the Southeast Baghdad field to use robots to discover defects, and advanced technical techniques were hat to respond to the risks of erosion and leak pipes, using the buffer rating.
IRAK, with Saudi Arabia, was at the top of crude oil offers in February 2025, which varied between crude oil export agreements, its sale and its purchase, and the acquisition of purchasing purchase actions on projects, as well as the creation of giant projects.
Unreasonable contracts
Oil expert Bilal Khalifa expressed his deep concern and strong criticism of recent transactions that the Iraqi government has concluded with investment companies to produce oil, describing them as “well -deliberate contracts” and implies “several warnings” which threatens the economic and international obligations of IRAQ.
Khalifa Said in an interview with al -jazeera net, that the current iraqi production level is approximately 4.4 million barrels per day, tathing into account the stopping of production in the kurdistan region, noting that the iraqi government usually resort to reducing production from the fields Decrease in demand or when nEEDED, in order to have paing penal love for investment companies contract with, as the government is committed to paying profitable costs even on the reduced quantities produced.
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He stressed that this mechanism is linked to Iraq’s obligations to the Organization of Oil Exporting countries (OPEC), which determines a ceiling for the production of the Member States.
He pointed out that “it is not possible to increase the current part of Iraq, even if the Iraqi production ceilings increase”, which raises serious questions on the feasibility of the declared plans to increase production to 6 million barrels or more.
Khalifa asked questions about the real dimensions of these plans, wondering if Iraq “intends to leave OPEC more alliance to ensure exports outside the ceilings alone, or that he intends to re -enter the organizations of the organization to increase the share of Iraq.”
In a related context, the oil expert warned that the second scenario, which is negotiating to increase the share of Iraq, could create a “new problem” represented in the impact of this increase in world oil prices, which can lead to its decline.
He stressed that “any drop will not be in the interest of Iraq”, especially since the Iraqi budget has been prepared on the basis of a virtual price per barrel at $ 70, while the current value of the Basra oil barrel is around 60 dollars.
The oil expert said that “any increase in production means a greater decrease in bassora oil prices”, unless OPEC accepts to increase the share of Iraq in exchange for reducing another country, which raises questions about “the country that will accept to reduce its share for Iraq”.
Regarding the expected advantages of Iraq of these investments, in particular the Pretuch Petroleum Company (BP), Khalifa expressed his surprise at the time of the calendar of these transactions, indicating that “it was assumed that Iraq was contracting with” BP “with regard to the problems of Kirkuk solved.”
He considered that the conclusion of these contracts “after more than 15 years of licenses” represents a “problem” because it did not provide Iraq positively due to the determinants mentioned.
Political importance
For his part, the economist, Nabil al -Ali, reduced the desired economic importance of projects and agreements recently concluded by Iraq, highlighting the country’s limited economic performance.
Al -Ali declared in an interview with Al -jazeera Net, that the transactions concluded by Iraq could welcome political importance and help to diversify foreign investments, in particular in the oil sector, which has witnessed a remarkable Chinese presence, however, he excluded that these transactions would not make a fundamental change in the Iraqi petroleum industry, referring to the production ceiling agreed which will not exceed 150 thousand barrels per day.
On financial returns, Al -Ali stressed that financial yield is not only linked to Iraq’s ability to extract oil, but to its ability to export it, which is subject to OPEC agreements and the export restrictions imposed, noting that Iraq has the capacity to produce around 500,000 additional barrels per day, but the determinants of exposure.
On the agreement with a Chinese company for the maintenance of oil transport pipelines or the discovery of breakdowns using robots, Al -Ali saw that this problem does not increase the level of the “big project” or “huge technology”, stressing that the use of robots has become common.
He added that it was preferable for national companies to implement such projects instead of supporting foreign companies.
He stressed that this type of transactions will not provide large -scale employment possibilities, expecting a thousand jobs will not exceed a job, which means that its impact on the labor market will be limited and will not increase the level of aspirations.
Al -Ali stressed that these agreements, in his appreciation, do not represent a qualitative change in terms of economic yield on which Iraq can count in the short term.