Iraq awards $500m Rumaila well deals

Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, director of the licensing office at the Iraqi oil ministry has said that Iraq has awarded contracts to drill 49 out of 56 new wells at the giant Rumaila oilfield, each valued at around $10m, Reuters has reported. Chinese firm Daqing and a joint venture between Schlumberger and the state-owned Iraq Drilling Co are each being awarded contracts to drill 21 new wells, while Weatherford International was awarded seven new wells, Ameedi said. "The remaining seven wells we have left for later, once we review the performance of the contractors," he said. [ameinfo]

Iraq: Third round of bidding for oil exploration

The Ministry of Petroleum of Iraq has announced that it has not yet decided on the third round of bidding. However it is now focusing on making a decision on exploration opportunities. “Once the third round of biddings is announced, the Ministry will seek to invite companies for exploring new oil rigs and not for developing the existing fields”, said a source in the Ministry of Oil, stressing that companies will be allocated parcels of land for carrying out explorations and research to discover potential oil wells.

“The Ministry has formed committees for negotiating with neighbouring countries to continue the negotiating process in order to develop appropriate solutions for the demarcation of the fields, and clarification of the rights of the states with respect to these fields” added the source, expressing hope that agreements with Iraq neighbouring countries to be reached in the coming days to resolve the outstanding issues which would allow joint development of the fields to begin.

Al Sabah, Baghdad