Sonangol returns to Iraq

Angola’s Sonangol has restarted operations in Iraq after a nearly six-year hiatus due to violence in areas near the city of Mosul, the NOC announced on Thursday.

The Iraqi North Oil Company has transferred the Najmah and Qayyarah fields, where Sonangol holds a 75% interest, back to the company, it added in a statement. The two fields are believed to hold more than 1 billion barrels of oil.

“The resumption of its concessions in that country and in the Middle East […] represents one of the major successes of the current board, if one takes into account the commercial potential of the fields,” Sonangol said.

Among other major successes, the statement also mentioned a USD 500-million settlement with bankrupt US independent Cobalt, which received approval by a bankruptcy court in Houston days ago.

In separate news from Angola, the country’s finance ministry has proposed 12 new projects for approval in blocks 14, 15, 16, 17, 31 and 32, which together could produce more than 500,000 bopd, international media reported on Friday.