Total Joins Exxon and Chevron In Northern Iraqi Oil Fields

Judging by today’s report of TOTAL S.A. (EPA:FP) (NYSE:TOT) buying a stake in Kurdistan oil blocks, the steady trickle of companies signing up with the Kurds may soon become a flood. According to Bloomberg, TOTAL S.A. (EPA:FP) (NYSE:TOT) has followed in the footsteps of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), when it purchased a 35 percent stake in the Harir and Safen blocks from Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO). It may be recalled that we earlier reported how Exxon had been followed into Iraqi oil exploration by Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B). Iraq represents one of the last great repositories of crude oil reserves,…