Iraq could buy ExxonMobil’s 32.7-percent stake in one of the largest oilfields in OPEC’s second-largest producer, West Qurna 1, Bloomberg quoted Iraq’s oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismaael as saying on Monday. Reports of the U.S. supermajor potentially divesting its stake in the large Iraqi oilfield are not new. Last year, Bloomberg reported that Chinese state giants China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) were interested in buying ExxonMobil’s entire operating stake in West Qurna 1. The stake sale could be worth at least US$500 million, reports had it at the time. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Exxon was considering selling its stake in West Qurna 1 as it looks to cut its debts, which grew in 2020 with the collapse in oil prices, while the supermajor looks to keep its dividend intact. The Iraqi government could now end up buying Exxon’s interest, the […]