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BP’s long game in Iraq is paying off

BP’s business model in Iraq has proved to be highly profitable, even as progress has sometimes appeared to be slow and plans have had to be curtailed. The London-based company had attracted scepticism when it became the first of the big-oil majors to commit to the country after the 2003 war. BP last week marked five […]

Anthony McAuley writes for The National:

BP’s business model in Iraq has proved to be highly profitable, even as progress has sometimes appeared to be slow and plans have had to be curtailed. The London-based company had attracted scepticism when it became the first of the big-oil majors to commit to the country after the 2003 war.

BP last week marked five years since signing its technical services contract to increase production from the “supergiant” Rumaila South oilfield, one of Iraq’s oldest and a large source of revenue. In that period, said BP, the field has produced 2 billion barrels, delivering US$180bn to the government. “Now, we can’t claim all the credit for that because we inherited an existing oilfield,” said Michael Townshend, the head of BP Iraq and Middle East chief. “But what we can claim credit for is the amount of incremental production that we have delivered. So, over the last five years we can say we’ve delivered about $75bn of incremental revenue to the government and we’ve spent about $5bn to do it.”