State giants China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are interested in buying ExxonMobil’s entire operating stake in one of the largest oilfields in Iraq, West Qurna 1, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. The potential stake sale of Exxon’s 32.7-percent interest in West Qurna 1 could be worth at least US$500 million, but final decisions haven’t been made yet, and a possible deal could be hampered by geopolitical uncertainties in OPEC’s second-largest producer, Bloomberg’s sources said. ExxonMobil signed in 2010 an agreement with the South Oil Company of the Iraq Ministry of Oil to rehabilitate and redevelop the West Qurna I field in southern Iraq. Exxon is the lead contractor, while a Royal Dutch Shell affiliate was also holding a stake under the 2010 agreement. In 2018, Shell sold its stake in West Qurna 1 to Japan’s Itochu […]