Oil Ministry Seeks Foreign Investment in Ten Oilfields

The ministry of oil will organize a new conference to auction the second batch of investment licenses to foreign oil companies. Ministry spokesman A'asim Jihad said the conference will be organized in Istanbul, sometime in November.

The spokesman named ten oilfields for which investment licenses will be auctioned. Seven of these oilfields are located in southern and eastern Iraq, these are: Majnoon, West Qurna, al-Helfaya, al-Gharraf, al-Kifil, Murjan and Bedra. The other three oilfields are located to the north around Mosul, these are: Khashm al-Ahmar, Qamar Klabat, Qayara and Nejma.
Jihad added that forty five foreign companies are expected to compete for investment licenses in these fields.
Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, member of the parliament's hydrocarbons committee said these oilfields, when fully developed, could increase Iraq's oil output to 6 million bpd. Iraq currently produces approximately 2.5 million bpd of crude.

In related news, PM Nouri al-Maliki met with the representatives of British Petroleum in Baghdad. The Prime Minister urged the oil giant to resolve issues that have been delaying the implementation of a contract with the company to develop the huge Rumaila oilfield.