IRAQ TO SIGN 7 OILFIELD DEALS THIS MONTH

Jan. 17, 2010

AMMAN (MarketWatch) -- The Iraqi oil ministry will finalize by the end of this month seven deals for oil fields won in Iraq's second round of bidding held in December as all winning companies have agreed to new amendments, a senior oil ministry official said Sunday.

Lukoil Holdings /quotes/comstock/11i!lukoy (LUKO.Y 58.35, -0.25, -0.43%) , China National Petroleum Corp. and Gazprom led consortiums were the latest foreign companies to agree to new changes made by the Iraqi oil ministry to these deals, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, head of the oil ministry's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Baghdad.

Meanwhile, a consortium led by Italian energy giant Eni SpA (E) has accepted Iraqi government amendments to a service contract to develop the giant southern Zubair oil field, sources close to the Iraqi oil ministry said. The Eni group is expected to sign for the Zubair oil field on Friday.

Discussions regarding an ExxonMobil-led group to upgrade West Qurna Phase 1 is taking place Monday, the sources added.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi cabinet ratified four oil field deals, including the supergiant Majnoon oil field. It had also given its previous approvals for the remaining deals provided that companies accept the new changes.

The signing sessions for the seven oil fields will start Sunday and continues until the end of the month. On Sunday, the ministry will sign a final service deal for the Majnoon field, which holds oil reserves of 12.8 billion. It was awarded to a consortium comprising Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and Malaysia's Petronas.

On Monday, it will finalize a contract with Petronas and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd (1662.TO), or Japex, for the smaller Garraf oil field and on Jan. 26, it will sign with final deals with Angola's national oil co., Sonangol, for the northern Qaiyarah and Najmah oil fields.

The second super giant West Qurna Phase 2 oil field, which holds oil reserves of 12.9 billion barrels, will be signed on Jan 31 with a consortium consisting of Russia's OAO Lukoil and Norway's Statoil (STL.OL), and on Jan. 27 Halfaya oil field, with 4.1 billion oil reserves, will be signed with CNPC, Petronas and Total SA (TOT).

On Jan. 28, the ministry will sign the smallest Badra oil field in the south with Russia's Gazprom, Turkish Petroleum Corp., known as TPAO, South Korea's Korea Gas Corp. and Petronas.

Iraq aims from all these deals to bring its oil production to 11 million barrels a day in six to seven years from now, nearly five times what it produces now and could even exceeds its fellow OPEC's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ira...nth-2010-01-17