BAGHDAD: Development of Iraq’s Mansuriya gas field on the coast near the Iranian border is expected to cost $2.1 billion, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Monday.

China’s Sinopec (000554.SZ) last month won a deal to develop the field in partnership with Iraq’s state-run Midland Oil Company.

Abdul Jabbar also said he does not expect oil prices to drop below $65 a barrel and that lower oil prices should not be a concern after OPEC+ eases production cuts from May.

Iraq is also in talks over the potential purchase of ExxonMobil’s stake in the southern West Qurna 1 oilfield, he added at a Baghdad news conference.

There are discussions at the oil ministry about the “Basra Oil Company taking ownership of West Qurna 1 and leading the project, as happened with Majnoon,” Abdul Jabbar said, referring to the huge Majnoon oilfield in the south of the country.

Iraq last month approved a 2021 investment budget of about $1.15 billion to develop Majnoon and raise its output to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd), from its current 130,000 bpd, within three years.