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BASRA / Reuters
Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to exit the Majnoon oilfield and hand over its operation to the state-run Basra Oil Co. by the end of June 2018, two oil officials close to the deal said on Wednesday.
A letter signed by Iraqi oil minister Jabar Luaibi, dated August 23 and seen by Reuters, gave appr-
oval for the Anglo-Dutch company to quit Majnoon, a major oilfi-
eld near Basra which started
production in 2014.
Two Iraqi oil officials said the deal was reached during a meeting between Shell and officials from state-run Basra Oil on Monday at the Majnoon oilfield. “We agreed that eight months is quite enough time for Shell to finish preparations to exit Majnoon. Basra Oil Company will take over operations,†said one official close to the meeting.
Majnoon currently produces around 235,000 barrels of oil
per day, oil officials said. Under the exit agreement, Iraqi workers hired and trained by Shell will stay
working in Majnoon, even though development operations will
be handled by Iraq or another foreign contractor, said another Iraqi oil official.