Anbar Gas Fields under major progress, Oil Ministry:

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Negotiations between the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the local government in West Iraq‘s Anbar Province, regarding the contracts to develop the gas fields in the province, has achieved a “major progress,” according to a leading Oil Ministry spokesman on Sunday. “The Oil Ministry has discussed with Anbar Province and its Council, the contracts that had been scored by the Korean COGAS and the Kazakh MONAI GAS Companies, to develop the gas fields in Anbar,” Assem Jihad said, adding that “a major progress had been achieved in the dialogues about the achievement of those contracts.” Anbar‘s Council had rejected the export of Anbar‘s Ukaz Gas, estimate to reach 2.1 trillion (t) cubic feet, unless after its manufacturing inside the Province, threatening to suspend the works if the central government would not respond to the Council’s demands. Jihad said that “the Oil Ministry has laid a condition on the said international companies to depend on the Iraqi national cadre, with a percentage exceeding 85%,” pointing out that “Anbar Province would have additional revenues through this step, as well as Iraq in general, along with the encouragement of investment in the Province, being a significant step to serve projects in the whole of Iraq.” “The Oil Ministry is looking forward towards national investments of the said fields and their revenues that would serve the interest of the Province in particular and the whole of Iraq in general,” Jihad said, adding that there are important projects in Anbar in the field of electric power. Noteworthy is that Iraq‘s Third Licenses Session of the Iraqi gas fields has ended with granting the Ukaz Gas Field in Anbar Province to the Korean COGAS and the Kazakh MONAI GAS Companies, 50-50. SKH 33