BAGHDAD: Iraq is to hold a public auction on October 20 for the rights to work on three gas fields, an oil ministry spokesman said on Monday.
The sale of the undeveloped fields — which have estimated reserves totaling about 317 billion cubic metres — bcm (11 trillion cubic feet — tcf) — follows two invitations to tender for oil fields last year in which 10 contracts were agreed with foreign energy giants.
"We have decided to hold the gas field auction on October 20," oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP.
"All the companies which participated in the oil field auction will be participating, but we will know exactly how many companies will participate on the day of the auction itself."
Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani on May 6 invited international energy firms to submit bids for the gas fields, which he said at the time would be held on September 1.
He said 45 companies that had taken part in the two previous rounds of bidding would be eligible to compete and that the contracts on offer would again be service agreements, under which Baghdad pays the foreign company fixed fees based on production quotas rather than a share of profits based on sales.
Iraq currently produces a negligible quantity of gas compared with the size of its reserves, and flares off most of what comes out with its crude as it lacks the capture technology needed to use the gas for power generation.
Of the three gas fields on offer, Akkaz is the biggest. Some 50 kilometers (30 miles) long and 18 kilometers (11 miles) wide, it lies west of Baghdad in Anbar province and contains 5.6 tcf (158 bcm).
The second field, Mansuriyah, is located in Diyala province, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad, and has reserves of 127 bcm (4.5 tcf).
Both Akkaz and Mansuriyah — in provinces where the authorities have been combating insurgents — were offered in Iraq’s first round of bidding on June 30 but not awarded.
The third gas field on offer is Siba, located in the southern province of Basra near the borders of Iran and Kuwait. It has reserves of 31 bcm (1.1 tcf).
The planned bidding round follows the signing of contracts with foreign firms last year to develop 10 oil fields across Iraq, aimed at raising crude output, currently 2.4 million barrels per day, to between 10 and 12 million bpd.
