WEST QURNA 1 OILFIELD (Iraq), Jan 1 — US energy giant ExxonMobil Corp has formally exited the West Qurna 1 oilfield in southern Iraq and handed over its operations to PetroChina as a lead contractor, a deputy oil minister told Reuters today.

Senior Iraqi oil officials met with executives from ExxonMobil, PetroChina and Basra Oil Co yesterday at the West Qurna 1 field near Basra to mark Exxon’s complete exit and the handover of its operations to PetroChina.

"We are meeting today to bid farewell to ExxonMobil, and at the same time we congratulate PetroChina for becoming the lead contractor,” Basim Mohammed, Iraqi deputy oil minister for upstream affairs, told Reuters in an interview at the field. — Reuters