Iraq studying new offers for West Qurna oil field
Baghdad, October 11, 2009
Iraq's Oil Ministry is considering revised offers from Exxon Mobil and Lukoil for its West Qurna oilfield, and Total is expected to make a new bid, an oil official said on Sunday.
Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, deputy director of the Oil Ministry's contracts and licensing directorate, said ENI had put forward a new offer for Zubair, another oilfield that was not awarded in an energy auction the ministry held in June.
Separately, a ministry spokesman said that Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said the foreign firms' investment in the two fields, along with that in super giant Rumaila, would bring Iraq $100 billion.
The minister forecast that the three fields' combined output would reach 7 million barrels a day in six years, spokesman Asim Jihad said.-Reuters