Iraq is going to take a second run at auctioning gas-prone fields after a disappointing fourth round at the end of May, in which no major gas fields were taken up by foreign oil companies.
According to a report by Interfax, citing Iraqi Prime Ministerial advisor and respect industry figure Thamer El-Gahdban, the Iraq Oil Ministry is working hard to improve the terms on offer and will auction the fields later this year or early 2013.
Gahdban blamed the unpopularity of the fourth round gas blocks on the proximity of several of them to Syria and the structure of the fourth round, which saw oil and gas blocks auctioned together.
““If the ministry offered only gas [blocks] and at better terms, I’m sure there will be better results,” he told Interfax. “I really believe that if the terms are right, the blocks are chosen well and we have many of them [that] there is a good possibility we’ll have a more successful fifth round than the fourth.”
