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Iraq ‘s cabinet approved a contract with South Korea’s Kogas on Tuesday to develop the Akkas gas field in western Anbar province, an oil ministry source has told the Reuters news agency.
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Iraq awarded a development contract for Akkas, the country’s largest gas field, to Kogas and KazMunaiGas in a bidding round last year, Trade Arabiya reported citing Reuters.
State-run Kogas announced in May it had raised its stake in Akkas to 100% after KazMunaiGas pulled out.
‘The contract has been approved by the cabinet and we will sign it, finally, on October 15th,’ the oil ministry source said.
In June, Kogas chief executive Choo Kang-soo said three Asian nations had asked Kogas to sell them a stake in the field, which has estimated reserves of 5.6 trillion cubic feet.
In April, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Seoul and agreed for South Korea to have the priority right to at least 250,000 barrels a day of crude oil during any emergency that upsets the global supply-and-demand balance, equivalent to about 10% of South Korean daily crude imports.
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