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The seemingly never-ending saga regarding a Japanese consortium being awarded the US$8 billion development contract for the Nassiriya oilfield in Iraq shows no signs of being resolved after the latest round of talks ended without a deal being in place.
Reuters reported that Iraq’s Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, said that despite the breakdown in negotiations the two sides will continue to talk.
The consortium headed by Japanese refiner Nippon Oil and including the exploration company Inpex and EPC contractor JGC has been in discussion with Irtaq sionce the second quarter of 2009.
“The last negotiations ended without reaching a conclusive result, but we decided to continue talks,” Shahristani is reported by Reuters as saying.
“We will declare our position on this issue in time,” he added.
Sources from within Baghdad have said that the complicated financing is the reason for the deal breaking down.
Nippon Oil and it’s fellow Japanese partners have seen off some stiff competition for the contract to develop the 5 billion barrel reserve Nassiriya. Other contenders for the contract included Italian supermajor Eni.
The Iraq Oil Ministry hopes that Nassiriya will yield 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) within two years rising to 600,000 bpd after that. The contract includes the construction of both refining and power-generating facilities.
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