PetroChina to join Exxon on giant Iraq oilfield

China's biggest energy firm PetroChina will join ExxonMobil in developing Iraq's giant West Qurna oilfield and is in talks with Lukoil to buy into a second project at the field, industry sources said.

China is already the top foreign player in Iraq's southern oilfields and a deal at West Qurna would boost its dominance and could make PetroChina the biggest single foreign investor.

PetroChina partners BP at Rumaila, Iraq's biggest oilfield, and operates the Halfaya field. The company was the first foreign firm to sign an oil service deal in Iraq after United States-led forces toppled former president Saddam Hussein.

"PetroChina will participate in developing the field," said an industry source with direct knowledge of the deal with Exxon.

The agreement would be announced in weeks, the source said, but declined to give further details on how the world's two most valuable listed energy firms would work together in Iraq. Both PetroChina and Exxon declined to comment.

Exxon holds a 60 per cent stake in West Qurna 1, a US$50 billion investment project pumping around 480,000 barrels per day (bpd).

In March, PetroChina's ex-chairman Jiang Jiemin told Reuters that the Chinese energy major was willing to team up with Exxon at West Qurna.