Iraq is expected to sign a deal for the development of its Akkas natural gas field with a South Korean and Kazakh consortium of companies next week according to a senior Iraqi oil ministry official quoted by Dow Jones.
The newswire quoted senior Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, head of the ministry’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate as saying that “We are going to initial the agreement next week between February 22 and 24”.
Akkas which has reserves of about 158 billion cubic metres lies in Anbar province and is the largest of three gas fields that were put up for auction in October. The winning consortium of Korean Gas Corporation (Kogas) and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz made the winning bid for the field in Iraq’s third gas auction since 2003.
The agreement was originally planned to be signed in mid November but was held up amid fears by local communities that the gas produced from the field would not benefit them.
Iraq is expected to hold a fourth oil and gas bidding round sometime this year. The round could potentially attract even more international interest as the overall security situation in Iraq improves.
“Definitely the participation will be much higher given the improvement in the security situation in the country and the more stable political situation,” Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi was quoted as saying in January.
The fourth round is expected to open up 12 smaller gas exploration blocks making them more attractive to small and medium-sized oil companies who can bid without having to make prohibitively high investments.
“We want to give more companies a chance to participate in the fourth bidding round,” Ameedi said at the time.
