Iraq brings forward second oil sale, goes alone on gas

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq plans to bring forward a second bidding round for major energy contracts and may give foreign firms another run at oilfields that were left over after this week’s sale, which clinched only one deal.

The country’s second bidding round of energy deals “was supposed to be at the end of the year but we have moved it up. We will announce the new date. It could be in the next few months,” oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said on Thursday.

That auction will follow on from Tuesday’s tender for eight major oil and gas fields, Iraq’s first energy sale since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the first open run oil firms have had at the world’s third largest reserves since Iraq nationalized the industry in 1972.

The auction awarded just one field, to a foreign group led by BP (BP.L), a disappointment to those who had hoped the round would help Iraq quickly revive a struggling oil sector and boost production of about 2.4 million barrels per day.

The government in Baghdad nevertheless deemed the exercise as a success because the Rumaila field awarded to the BP-led group, which also included the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), is a very large one.

Reuters