The Iraq Oil Ministry has delayed the fourth bidding round for fields developement contracts, according to a Reuters report.
Bidding, scheduled for early March on an already delayed timetable, is now scheduled for 11-12 April.
Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, the director of the oil licencing directorate which runs the oilfield auctions, told Reuters the decision to postpone the auction for a varied selection of twelve blocks – all of which Baghdad hopes to cover with the same fee-per-barrel service contract model – “in order to give companies more time to consider the final contract model and also in response to requests by many firms to postpone the auction.”
Oil companies have voiced concerns with the initial contract terms proposed by the directorate last year, with many saying that the attempt to stick to a fee-per-barrel model used in previous rounds is unsuited to an auction for fields where exploration will be required. Others voiced doubts that a single form of contract could be appropriate to a range of oil and gas fields of different sizes in differing areas of the country.
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