Iraq would have to compensate international oil companies for limits placed on their production, according to industry sources and documents seen by Reuters, further reducing the prospect it will join any OPEC deal to curb the group’s output. The compensation – stipulated in contracts – would compound the financial hit of losing much-needed revenue from crude sales, if the cash-strapped country were to yield to OPEC entreaties to curtail national production. OPEC member Iraq pays developers a fixed dollar-denominated fee for every barrel of oil produced in the south of the country – home to its biggest reserves – under technical service contracts agreed between the international firms and the state-owned South Oil Company (SOC). “Immediately after (an) SOC notice of […]