Thaindian News

Baghdad, June 30 (DPA) A group led by British Petroleum (BP) Tuesday won rights to develop Iraq’s Rumaila oil field, the largest of six oil fields on offer in a two-day bidding war in Baghdad.
BP and China’s CNPC won the rights to develop the field in cooperation with Iraqi partners in a process that has pitted 32 of the world’s largest oil companies against each other.

As well as the six oil fields, two natural gas fields are up for grabs.

A consortium including Italy’s Eni SpA, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, and Occidental Petroleum had rejected the $2 a barrel offer by the Iraqi oil ministry as too low. The Italian-led consortium had wanted $4.80 a barrel.

The bidding, which is being aired on Iraqi television, marks the first time since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein that foreign oil companies will be allowed to work Iraqi oil and gas fields controlled by the central government.

Rumaila is thought to contain some 3.3 trillion cubic feet of oil reserves, but lies in Iraq’s volatile Diyala province.

Diyala has been the scene of some of the worst fighting in Iraq, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sought to allay security fears in his opening remarks to the conference.

“We will offer the winning companies all security protection they need to facilitate their success and the success of the oil investment process,” he said.

Seven US firms are competing with four Japanese companies, four Chinese companies, three British firms, two Russian firms, two Italian companies, two Australian companies, and one company each from India, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Canada, South Korea, France, Malaysia and Indonesia.