Iraq expects its Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna fields will together pump more than 6 million barrels per day, when foreign companies complete the development work awarded earlier this year, Bloomberg has reported.
Contracts were awarded to international companies such as BP to develop the fields, which were offered in the June licensing round.
“Total production from the three fields exceeds 6 million barrels a day and this is higher than what we were hoping for from all the eight fields in the first bid round,” Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told Bloomberg reporters.
Next month will see the second round of bidding for Iraq oilfield contracts. The first round resulted in only one contract being awarded, because most companies wanted higher remuneration fees than the government wanted to pay.
“I think both sides have learned their lessons from the first round,” al-Shahristani said.
