Tony Hayward, who stepped down as BP boss in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will imminently seal his return to the oil industry, by buying into Turkey's Genel Enerji, in a deal valuing the target at around $4 billion, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Vallares, an acquisition vehicle established by Hayward and financier Nat Rothschild, has agreed in principle a tie-up with Genel Enerji, which owns oil fields in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, and will announce the deal in the coming days, the source said.

The deal expected to net Hayward and his Vallares co-founders millions of pounds.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin. Editing by Chris Wickham and Jane Merriman)

Iraq