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The successful bidders for Iraqi oil production contracts are to be announced at the end of June according to the Iraqi oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani.
“Of 120 candidate companies, we pre-selected 35 to work and invest in six major oil fields and two gas fields,” news agency AFP reported Shahristani as saying.
“On June 29 and 30, we invite the press to witness the opening of the envelopes.”
The awarding of the Iraqi oil contracts has been fraught with difficulties and disputes. Shahristani himself drew fire from Iraq’s parliament for his controversial polices, most notably the highly unpopular fixed fee contracts being offered to IOCs.
The country’s MPs believed that these policies were responsible for the massive shortfalls in oil revenues that Iraq has experienced.
The ongoing dispute with Iraqi Kurdistan over the awarding of its own oil contracts also rumbles on.Â
