Smaller Chinese oil companies are rapidly expanding in Iraq, investing billions and aiming to double production to 500,000 barrels per day by 2030, according to Reuters. Attracted by profit-sharing contracts and improved political stability, these independent firms are moving into projects left by global majors like ExxonMobil and Shell. Leveraging lower costs, fast development, and high risk tolerance, firms like Geo-Jade and United Energy are becoming key players. Despite Western firms beginning to return, Chinese independents are reshaping Iraq’s oil landscape. Reuters writes:
China’s independent oil companies are ramping up operations in Iraq, investing billions of dollars in OPEC’s number two producer even as some global majors have scaled back from a market dominated by Beijing’s big state-run firms.Drawn by more lucrative contract arrangements, smaller Chinese producers are on track to double their output in Iraq to 500,000 barrels per day by around 2030, according to estimates by executives at four of the firms, a figure not previously reported. […]For the smaller Chinese firms, managed by veterans of China’s state heavyweights, Iraq is an opportunity to leverage lower costs and faster development of projects that may be too small for Western or Chinese majors. […]Smaller Chinese firms can develop an oilfield in Iraq in two to three years, faster than the five to 10 years for Western firms, Chinese executives said. […]
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