45 companies to take part in gas field auction in October – spokesman

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq is to hold a public auction on October 20 for the rights to work on three gas fields, an oil ministry spokesman said on Monday, noting that 45 companies will compete to win this auction. The sale of the undeveloped fields, which have estimated reserves totalling about 317 billion cubic metres — bcm (11 trillion cubic feet — tcf), follows two invitations to tender for oil fields last year in which 10 contracts were agreed with foreign energy giants. “We have decided to hold the gas field auction on October 20,” Assem Jihad told IraqiNews.com news agency. “All the companies which participated in the oil field auction will be participating, but we will know exactly how many companies will participate on the day of the auction itself.” Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani on May 6 invited international energy firms to submit bids for the gas fields, which he said at the time would be held on September 1. He said 45 companies that had taken part in the two previous rounds of bidding would be eligible to compete and that the contracts on offer would again be service agreements, under which Baghdad pays the foreign company fixed fees based on production quotas rather than a share of profits based on sales. SH (P) 1