Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept.22 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
One of the largest oil companies Royal Dutch Shell plans to invest in oil sector of Kurdish autonomy of Iraq following the companies Exxon Mobil and Total, Al Jazeera TV channel reported on Saturday.
According to the report, the company is in talks with the autonomy's authorities, and has already achieved significant results to start cooperation in the oil sector.
Shell has already tried once to cooperate with the Kurdish autonomy in the oil industry, but at the last moment, the company abandoned its intentions as a result of Iraqi central government's pressure and threats to break off cooperation.
Baghdad considers illegal all agreements signed with foreign companies by authorities of Kurdish autonomy without the central government's permission. Foreign companies have repeatedly received warnings from the central government for the fact that if they do not refuse to cooperate with the authority, their deal with the central Iraqi government may be reviewed.
Shell is working to develop the Majnoon field in southern Iraq, as well as the field "West Qurna 1". The company also has a contract for $17 billion to develop gas fields in Iraq.
According to BP, Iraq's proven oil reserves amounted to 143.1 billion barrels as of late 2011. The country ranks third in OPEC after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
BP reported that oil production in Iraq amounted to 2.798 million barrels per day in late 2011.
There are 45 billion barrels of oil reserves in the territory of the Kurdish Administration of Northern Iraq.