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The Government of Iraq has appealed to oil companies – auction participants to develop an oil field of Iraq with the request to send repeated applications for participation in contests. This is reported by AFP.
So far, Iraq has received applications for eight oil and gas fields, while the government managed to conclude a deal in only one case.
For example, the American ConocoPhillips asked for $26.7 per oil barrel from the Bai Hassan field, while the government of Iraq is ready to pay only $4 per barrel.
The revenue from the sale of oil is more than three-fourths of Iraq’s total income.
Development of deposits
The development of two gas fields in Iraq, which foreign companies are not interested in, will be occupied by local state holdings. This is reported by AFP with reference to the statement of the spokesman of the Government of Iraq, Ali al-Dabbagh.
This is the Rumaila oil field and Akkas. Akkas was claimed by a consortium led by the Italian Edison SpA, but the contest failed.
Financial issue
A consortium of Edison SpA, Malaysian Petronas, Chinese CNPC, Turkish TPAO and South Korean Korea Gas Corp (Kogas) offered the Iraqi government to extract 425 million cubic meters of gas per day from the field, provided that $38 are paid for each additional barrel of oil equivalent, according to Dow Jones. The Iraqi authorities were ready to pay only $8.5 per barrel.
Tenders
As we recall, on June 30, in Iraq, there were tenders for the development of oil and gas fields of the country, in which the largest oil companies of the world took part. However, of 35 companies admitted to the auctions, only 22 applications were submitted, and as a result of the competitions, the Iraqi authorities managed to conclude only one contract – with a consortium of British BP and Chinese CNPC International for the Rumaila field. The reason for the failure of the tenders was that the parties failed to agree on the cost of the oil produced.
Oil reserves in Iraq are estimated at the level of 115 billion barrels and gas is 112 trillion cubic meters. About 60 percent of the gas produced in Iraq is burned, as it is not used.