Chinese oilfield service company Anton starts marketing Iraqi oil

Anton Oilfield Services

19/10/2026 09:52

By Chen Aizhu
SINGAPORE, Oct 19 (Reuters) - China's Anton Oilfield Services Group 3337.HK said it has marketed its first Iraqi crude oil cargo under a new supply contract with state oil marketer SOMO, in a rare arrangement that helps Baghdad secure funds to pay for service providers.
The Hong Kong-listed firm is one of a handful of Chinese independent oil companies ramping up operations in Iraq, Reuters has reported.
Iraq is scrambling to boost oil sales disrupted by the Iran war now in its eighth month. In recent months, its oil exports have rebounded as deeper discounts attracted traders and refiners. 
Anton said in a statement released on LinkedIn on Saturday that the deal aims to "support BOC's (Basrah Oil Company's) crude oil sales and cash flow, establish channels connecting engineering and services, crude oil sales and financial settlement, facilitate payment recovery for Anton and partners."
Under the deal signed last month with SOMO, Anton will market an unspecified amount of Iraqi oil, mainly from the Majnoon oilfield operated by BOC, Iraq's state-run oil and gas producer, said an industry official with direct knowledge of the matter. 
The official declined to be named due to company policy.
Anton lifted 1 million barrels of Basrah Heavy crude in late September and sold the cargo to a trading house, the industry official said.     
The Chinese firm said the marketing deal also paved the way for it to lift and market oil from Iraq's Dhufriya oilfield in the future. Anton was awarded a license to develop the Dhufriya oilfield in eastern Iraq in 2024, becoming a project operator in the OPEC nation for the first time.
The field is currently at an exploration stage, said the same official. 


 (Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
 ((aizhu.chen@thomsonreuters.com))