Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi on Wednesday welcomed the offer by the oil industry company British Petroleum (BP) to develop oil fields in Iraq, which would help boost Iraq's wealth of oil and revive the economy.
Abd al-Mahdi's office said that the prime minister met on Wednesday with Chief Executive of BP Bob Dudley, who expressed his company's willingness to invest in Iraq and appreciated the plans to stabilize and develop the country's economy.
The meeting reviewed the stages and plans to develop current and future projects carried out by the company in Iraq, according to the statement.
British energy giant BP has a long history of oil exploration and production in Iraq, which dates back to the 1920s when the company helped Iraq locate, produce and export oil from the Baba Gurgur oil field in the northern province of Kirkuk, Xinhua reported.
In 2009, BP became the first international oil company to return to Iraq after 35 years.
The Iraqi economy relies heavily on crude oil exports, which account for more than 90 percent of the country's revenues.
In 2017, Iraq announced that its proven oil reserves increased
to 153 billion barrels from a previously estimated 143.1 billion barrels.