Oil Ministry meets bidders mid-Feb.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Oil Ministry will hold a meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul in mid-February 2009 with companies that are vying over its contracts, according to a ministry spokesman on Monday. “The meeting will be held with representatives of all 30 companies that purchased bidding documents during a London conference out of 35 companies the ministry qualified to compete over the first round of licenses,” Asim Jihad told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The meeting will be the last one to discuss preparatory, technical, and financial aspects for the round before companies offer their bids in April 2009,” Jihad added. He said that the ministry would hopefully announce the names of winners of development contracts for the first round of licenses in May 2009.   AmR (P)/SR 1