ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iraqi Ministry of Oil announced Monday the signing of a contract with British Petroleum (BP) to rehabilitate four oil fields in Kirkuk.

The four oilfields under the contract include the Baba and Avanah domes and three adjacent fields - Bai Hassan, Jambur, and Khabbaz, all operated by the Iraqi government’s North Oil Company.

“The development and rehabilitation operations will add quantities to national production, in addition to investing in gas and increasing the quantities of its production to support the production of electricity,” said Iraqi Minister of Oil Hayyan Abdul Ghani on Monday, hailing the signing as a “major achievement” for the ministry.

The signing of the contract comes after the two sides signed an agreement in late February to rehabilitate the fields, which was also preceded by the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s visit to the UK in mid-January.

Kirkuk is known for its vast natural resources and oil-rich fields.

The deal consists of rehabilitating existing facilities, where required, and the construction of new facilities - including gas expansion projects - together with a drilling program at the Kirkuk fields, which has the potential to stabilize production and reverse the decline, returning production from this nationally important oilfield to a growth path, according to an earlier statement from BP in December.

Iraq has been looking for ways to increase oil production and sales from the city, namely, the attempts at reviving the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipelines to increase the daily export of its oil.