As of 2023, Crescent Petroleum and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil have signed three twenty-year contracts as the company focus it efforts in aiding the redevelopment of Iraq.

In 1969, the UAE government granted the Mubarek field to concessionaire Buttes Gas & Oil Co. International Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Crescent Petroleum.

[6][7] Setting the world record at the time, Crescent Petroleum had the Mubarek field in full production within 13 months from the discovery of the confirmation well, at a rate of over 60,000 barrels of oil per day.

[8] Crescent Petroleum's first international venture was in 1973, when it was granted the exploration rights for Block 1, an offshore area in present-day Montenegro, which was then part of Yugoslavia.

In 1979, Crescent Petroleum discovered the Zora gas field—currently owned and operated by Dana Gas—off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

In 1986, Crescent Petroleum obtained exploration concessions for blocks in the Potwar Basin in Pakistan, later forming a joint-venture with Amoco (today BP), which was held through to 1990.

[10] During the downturn in the energy sector in the 1990s, Crescent Petroleum made the decision to divest itself from its international positions and refocus attention on opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa region.

[17][18][19] Crescent Petroleum has current operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), and interests in Egypt through its affiliate Dana Gas.

[21][22] Crescent Petroleum has had a continuous presence in Baghdad for 30 years and has a special commitment to the country because of the Jafar family's roots.

Crescent Petroleum agreed to train personnel from the Ministry of Oil and affiliated companies and helped in the process of implementing the appraisal study.

[30] The terms of the contract grant exclusive rights to appraise, develop, market, and sell petroleum products from the substantial Khor Mor and Chemchemal gas fields, and to provide natural gas supplies to fuel two major domestic electric generation plants being built in Erbil and Chemchemal as well as for local industries and export.

[31][32] Later that year, OMV of Austria and MOL of Hungary, two major European energy companies, each became 10% shareholders in Pearl Petroleum.

[36] The consortium has appointed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor to deliver the first of the two production trains at the Khor Mor plant.

It followed it in 2008 by a comprehensive 3D/2D survey design study that used Raytrace modelling and included all target reservoirs across the island and the entire concession area.

In 2012, Crescent Petroleum conducted an Airborne Gravity and Magnetic Survey over SAN and it surrounds, covering an area of 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi), to develop the exploration work programme.

[40][41] The UAE infrastructure for the project, involving a gas sweetening plant and transmission facilities, were set up with initial investments of around $300 million.

NIOC also invested more than US$1.5 billion in the project, developing on-site production at the Salman offshore field and critical transport facilities.

In 1969, the offshore exploration and development concession for the Mubarek field off the coast of Sharjah was first signed through Buttes Gas & Oil Co. International Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Crescent Petroleum.

Although the Mubarek reservoir lies at a great depth and has a complex stratigraphy (with the incidence of thick and mobile salt, fracturing, high-pressure water flows and successive layers of over-pressured and under-pressured formations),[19] within 13 months from the discovery of the confirmation well in 1972, the field was on full production at a rate of over 60,000 barrels per day (9,500 m3/d).

In 1986, Finish Neste Oy and the Bahrain-based Intoil signed an agreement with Crescent Petroleum for an offshore drilling program in the Mubarek field.

The total production of the Mubarek field exceeded 100 million barrels of oil and condensate as well as around 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Under the terms of the agreement, both companies would jointly develop the Sharjah onshore concession, with Rosneft holding a 49% stake as participating interest.

[62] The two companies agreed to invest nearly US$60 million in initial exploration activities, including the drilling of two oil wells to a depth of 4,500 metres (14,760 ft).

Although good potential drilling prospects were identified in the block, the concession was handed back in 1990 due to political turmoil.

[63] From 1981 to 1983, Crescent Petroleum held the concessions for a block offshore in the Jorge Basin along the Atlantic Coast near Comodoro Rivadavia in the Patagonian province of Chubut in southern Argentina.

Crescent Petroleum initially held 95% of the working interest but then developed a seismic program and the first well drilling together with Amoco (now BP), sharing the concessions in a joint venture.