Iraq on Sunday signed a contract with Shell and Petronas, finalizing a deal with the oil giants to develop the country's massive Majnoon oil field.
In December, a consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia's state-run Petronas company won the rights to develop the oil field that has 12.8 billion barrels of proven reserves, dpa reported.
"Majnoon is one of the giant oil field in the Middle East," Minister of Oil Hussein al-Shihristani told reporters during the signing ceremony.
The consortium is to receive 1.39 dollars per barrel, before cutting the 35 per cent taxes and the 25 per cent for its Iraqi partner, the minister said.
"They will get 68 cents per barrel, which is unprecedented prices in the oil industry," al-Shihristani added.
The consortium has promised to boost production in the field from 46,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.8 million bpd.
"We look forward to work with Iraq in this contract as we have been working in the country for around 50 years," said Shell's chief executive, Peter Voser.
Iraq's proven reserves now stand at 115 billion barrels, third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The government hopes to boost its output capacity to 12 million bpd up from the current 2.5 million bpd.