Chinese companies ZhenHua and CNOOC Iraq have won bids to explore Iraqi oil and gas fields, Iraq's oil minister said as the Middle East country's hydrocarbon exploration licensing round continued.
The oil and gas licenses for 29 projects are mainly aimed at ramping up output for domestic use, with more than 20 companies pre-qualifying, including European, Chinese, Arab and Iraqi groups. Chinese companies have been the only foreign players to win bids, taking seven oil and gas fields, while Iraqi Kurdish company KAR Group took two.
China's CNOOC Iraq won a bid to develop Iraq's Block 7 for oil exploration that extends across the country's central and southern provinces of Diwaniya, Babil, Najaf, Wasit and Muthanna, Iraq's oil minister said. China's ZhenHua won a bid to develop the Abu Khaymah oilfield in Iraq's southern Muthanna province, he said.
Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer behind Saudi Arabia, has been hampered in its oil sector development by contract terms viewed as unfavourable by many major oil companies as well as recurring military conflict in the region and growing investor focus on environmental, social and governance criteria.
