The UK’s BP has awarded $3bn-worth of contracts in Iraq over the past four months as it moves into the next phase of expansion at the Rumaila field, located in the Basra province.

In September, the field’s partners, BP and China National Petroleum Corporation, agreed revised terms with Baghdad on the development of the field, reducing the production target.

The consortium is now aiming for production to plateau at 2.1 million barrels a day (b/d), compared with a previous target of 2.9 million b/d when the contract was agreed in 2009.

“What renegotiating the terms has done is unlock the ability to invest in the next phase. We are going into a significant investment cycle now,” said Andrew McAuslan, BP’s vice-president for Middle East and the Caspian region, at a press conference at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec) in Abu Dhabi on 10 November.

“We have awarded about $3bn of contracts in the past four months, so we have a very significant ramp-up in the level of commitment and investment that has come out of the agreement we reached with the Oil Ministry, and that is primarily in the area of drilling,” he said.

Current production at the Rumaila field is about 1.3 million b/d and BP expects output to remain in the 1.3-1.5 million-b/d range for the next three years.

“After that, we will move up, hopefully fairly quickly, to 1.8 million b/d and 2.1 million b/d,” said McAuslan.

The Rumaila operation makes about $50bn a year, generating nearly 50 per cent of Iraq’s government revenues, the company said.

BP is evaluating bids on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender to build new facilities at the field, and expects to award the deal during the second half of 2015.

Many of the major oil projects in the south of Iraq require additional supplies of water, which is the foundation of the planned Common Seawater Supply Facility (CSSF), intended to pump seawater to oil fields via pipelines. It has been estimated that 10-15 million b/d of seawater could be required for Iraq to meet its original expansion plans, at a total cost of $10bn, but the scheme has been significantly delayed.

“They are making progress with the new oil minister [Adel Abdul-Mehdi], who is determined to push it. I think it is probably still some five years away,” said Michael Townshend, head of Middle East operations at BP.

The company is currently using 500,000 b/d from the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant, which could double in the future, giving BP an alternative before the CSSF is operational, he added.

In May, BP awarded deals worth $961m to UK-based Petrofac and China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) to respectively provide management services on the Rumaila field development and build a power station at the site.

Townshend said BP is still providing technical assistance to Iraq’s state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) on the operation of the Kirkuk field, despite the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) seizing control of parts of the field amid the conflict with the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis).

Iraq stopped exporting crude from Kirkuk through Ceyhan in Turkey in March, after the connecting pipeline was damaged by Islamist militants. KRG Peshmerga forces took control of the field’s Avana dome – one of three producing areas in the field – in July, expelling NOC workers.

“Over recent months, a bit more of the field has been under control by the KRG, but the main producing dome is still operated by NOC,” said Townshend. “It is very difficult to tell [how much the field is producing]. There is some production going on and they are stripping off some of the gas for domestic use, particularly around Kirkuk, and they have to reinject some gas at the moment.”

BP’s CEO Bob Dudley said the firm would maintain its reinvestment rates at the same levels despite the drop in international oil prices over recent months.

“We have only approved projects based on an $80-a-barrel oil price and we have been doing that for 3-4 years,” said Dudley, speaking at Adipec. “So there isn’t any project we are working on today that we have any different view of so that will keep going.”