Iraq sets 450,000 bpd target for Kirkuk fields now run by BP-led operator

BP took over management of the Kirkuk, Bai Hassan, Khabbaz and Jambur fields on Thursday from Iraq's state oil companies.

Iraq aims to produce 450,000 barrels per day from four fields in the Kirkuk area, the country's oil minister said. The fields, Kirkuk, Bai Hassan, Khabbaz and Jambur, passed from state-owned North Oil Company and North Gas Company to a joint operating body including BP on Thursday, according to +964media. The project also targets about 500 million standard cubic feet per day of associated gas from the fields, +964media reported.

The 450,000 bpd figure traces back to a contract Iraq's Council of Ministers approved with BP in March 2025, worth $20 billion to $25 billion, which set a goal of adding 150,000 bpd to reach that level within three years, according to Wikipedia's entry on Iraq's Ministry of Oil. But when the development contract was formally activated this month, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani cited an initial production target of 328,000 bpd, a figure that conflicts with the 450,000 bpd number in the latest statement, Yahoo Finance reported. North Oil Company Director General Amer Khalil has put proven reserves across the four fields at around five billion barrels, Yahoo Finance reported.

BP has already begun restructuring its stake in the project. In July 2026 it agreed to sell ConocoPhillips a 42% interest in BP Energy Company of Kirkuk Limited, the vehicle that supports development of the Baba and Avanah domes of the Kirkuk field and the adjacent Bai Hassan field, according to a Reuters report carried by TradingView and Zawya.

A formal Kirkuk target adds a specific production figure to Iraq's wider effort to diversify its export routes, alongside flows through the Ceyhan pipeline, planned truck shipments via Turkey and Syria, and southern port volumes that have held near 2.6 million to 2.65 million bpd for months. Kirkuk output has long run below its potential because of infrastructure and security constraints, so the new target signals Baghdad's intent to add northern volumes on top of exports that have already proven resilient through the coalition withdrawal and regional friction.