BAGHDAD - The benchmark for foreign investment in Iraq's oil sector – and, for that matter, any energy sector in the world – is whether it would see the entry of the world's most profitable oil company on record.

And Exxon Mobil has. It is the only American company to take an operator's role in one of the 10 deals the Iraqi Oil Ministry signed with foreign firms.

Along with junior partner Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon will turn the 8.7 billion barrel West Qurna Phase 1 from a super-giant producing less than 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 2.325 million bpd within six years.

Rob Franklin, president of Exxon Mobil Upstream Ventures, (left) with other Exxon executives await the signing of the West Qurna Phase 1 contract Jan. 25 at the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report)

It will earn just $1.90 per extra barrel, before a 35 percent tax and then giving a quarter of it to the state partner, and must invest a minimum of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Iraq Oil Report Bureau Chief Ben Lando spoke with Rob Franklin, president of Exxon Mobil Upstream Ventures, about the potential the field has for Iraq and the company.

Ben Lando: What is the expected rate of return on this investment?

Rob Franklin: You know I'm not going to answer that question.

BL: Do you have an expected investment in this field? There is a minimum of course.

RF: The expected investment is many times the minimum. Fields of this type take billions of dollars to correctly develop and to optimize their production.

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