More time: for foreign companies to bid for work on Iraqi fields
Iraq gives bids extra time
Iraq's oil ministry today extended by two weeks a 31 January deadline for foreign oil companies to send in documentation to qualify for a second round of oil field servicing tenders, a spokesman said.
Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said the ministry decided to extend the deadline because of all the holidays declared in January, which also saw provincial elections take place at the end of the month.
"Because of all the national holidays in January, the Iraqi Oil Ministry decided to extend the deadline of 31 January to 15 February to give more chance and more opportunity for foreign oil companies to register and offer their documentation to the Oil Ministry to participate in the second round," he said to Reuters.
Iraq announced a second-bidding round for oil and gas fields at the end of December, naming 11 fields it would open up for bidding for development service contracts.
The first bidding round was announced in June for 8 oil and gas fields.
In April 2008 the oil ministry published a list of 35 oil companies that qualified to compete in its first bidding round, after around 120 companies’ submitted paperwork to apply.
Thirty of the companies bought data packages on the fields.
The fields announced in the second round could increase oil production by up to 2.5 million barrels per day in a few years, Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said when he announced the tenders.
That is about equal to what Iraq, which has the world's third largest oil reserves, currently pumps.
The fields announced in the first round could provide another 1.5 million bpd in additional output.
The oil ministry was expected to announce the winners of the first round by the middle of this year, while contracts for the second round would be finalised by the end of 2009.