Iraq advances oil contract awards

baghdad — Iraq plans to award oil and gas exploration and development contracts in 11 new blocks on April 15, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said on Sunday. Iraq had initially set June 21 as the date to open the bids for the new blocks, located in border areas with Iran and Kuwait, and in offshore Gulf waters.

Bidding documents will be made available to oil companies planning to make offers on April 13, Jihad told Reuters. The offers will have to be submitted on April 15 and the winners will be announced the same day, he added.

The oil ministry announced on Thursday measures to reduce the fees received by the oil companies from the government in the new contracts. The new contracts will exclude oil by-products from the companies’ revenues, establish a linkage between prevailing oil prices and their remuneration, and introduce a royalty element.

Oil exports

Iraq exported 3.453 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from its southern ports in March, slightly above the February average, the oil ministry said on Sunday. Iraq’s exports from the ports, managed by the central government in Baghdad, averaged 3.426 million bpd in February, down from 3.49 million bpd in January.

The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region exports about 300,000bpd of crude from northern Iraq through a pipeline across Turkey. There were no exports in March from the Kirkuk fields, the oil ministry said in a statement.