| 2008: Iraq allows 35 companies to bid for oil contracts |
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April 14, 2008 Baghdad: Iraq has so far accepted 35 companies to compete for future oil and gas contracts from 120 companies that entered the process to qualify, a government spokesman said yesterday. Iraq holds the world's third-largest oil reserves and needs billions of dollars of investment to overhaul infrastructure and boost oil and gas output after years of sanctions and war. A vital oil law to establish the framework for foreign investment has been stalled for a year by political feuding. As stop-gap measures to boost output until the law is in place, Iraq plans to issue oil extraction and service contracts. "Up to now, 35 companies have been qualified out of 120 companies that presented their documentation to the oil ministry," government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said. The process was ongoing, and some companies that had failed to submit all the documentation necessary would be given the chance to complete their paperwork, he added. Dabbagh did not give details on qualified companies, nor say if any had been disqualified. Baghdad has said that companies that had done deals with the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq would not be allowed to bid for contracts in the rest of the country. Baghdad claims the Kurdish deals are illegal. Iraq would publish the list of qualified companies "in coming days", he said. Iraq asked oil companies interested in the service contracts to submit their paperwork to Baghdad by mid-February. It had initially planned to issue the list of qualified companies in March before announcing the fields and contracts that would be open to bidding in April. Iraq produces about 2.3 million barrels per day of oil, a tiny fraction of its 115 billion barrels of proven crude reserves. |