Major oil reserve discovery in Iraq: two billion barrels uncovered

Tuesday 21 January 2025 - 16:04

Iraq has announced the discovery of over two billion barrels of oil reserves located to the east of Baghdad. The announcement was made by the country’s state-run Central Oil Company. This new find is part of Iraq's ongoing efforts to boost its oil production capacity.

Earlier last year, Iraq signed 13 contracts with various companies to develop oil and gas fields, with the aim of significantly increasing the country's oil output. According to Iraq’s Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdel-Ghani, these agreements are expected to add approximately 750,000 barrels of oil per day to the country's production.

The newly discovered field has already shown promising results, with high productivity of medium and light crude oil, as reported by Mohammed Yassin Hassan, the General Director of the Central Oil Company. The discovery is expected to add more than two billion barrels to Iraq’s proven oil reserves.

Initial tests from the new well have revealed a production rate of up to 5,000 barrels of crude oil per day. These findings further solidify Iraq’s position as the fifth-largest country globally in terms of proven oil reserves.

Chinese companies have been playing a major role in Iraq’s oil exploration sector. Chinese firm ZEBC has secured contracts to explore fields in eastern Baghdad and the middle Euphrates region, while Zhenhua, another Chinese company, has been awarded the contract for fields in the Najaf and Anbar provinces.