Shell agrees to sell its stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oilfield to Japan's Itochu

DUBAI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: 0LN9.L - news) has agreed to sell its stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oilfield to Japan's Itochu, a Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) spokesman said on Monday.

"Itochu and Shell have reached agreement on the sale of Shell’s interest in the West Qurna 1 oilfield and are now working to secure all the necessary approvals from the government of Iraq," the spokesman said. "Details of the discussions are commercially confidential."

Iraq has approved the sale by Shell of its 20 percent stake in the West Qurna 1 oilfield to Itochu, a senior Iraqi oil official told Reuters last week.

The deal comes as the Anglo-Dutch company agreed to exit the Majnoon oil venture, one of the largest fields in OPEC member Iraq, and hand over its operation to the state-run Basra Oil Co. (BOC) by the end of June 2018.

The West Qurna 1 oilfield, operated by Exxon Mobile, currently produces around 405,000 barrels per day. (Reporting by Rania El Gamal, editing by Louise Heavens)