By Kadhim Ajrash and Nayla Razzouk
May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq, holder of the world’s third- largest oil reserves, announced its third bidding round for rights to develop hydrocarbon deposits.
The Middle Eastern state will seek offers for the Akkas, Mansouriya and Siba natural-gas fields, Oil Minister Hussain al- Shahristani told reporters today in Baghdad. The Oil Ministry invited the 45 companies that bid for fields last year, he said.
Iraq held two licensing rounds in 2009, bringing international oil producers into the country for the first time since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Unrestrained by OPEC output quotas, Iraq plans to raise oil revenue to help rebuild its war- ravaged economy. Statoil ASA, OAO Lukoil and BP Plc were among the winners of development rights last year.
The Oil Ministry will announce details of the third-round bidding process on June 1, and companies will have until the end of July to study the information, al-Shahristani said. A workshop will be held for interested parties on Aug. 1 and bidding will open on Sept. 1, he said.
Akkas, discovered in the western Anbar province in 1998, holds 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas and has six wells, al- Shahristani said. Mansouriya, discovered in the eastern Diyala district in 1979, potentially holds 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas and has four wells, while Siba, found in 1968 in Basra, has 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas and three wells, he said.
Akkas, Mansouriya
Akkas and Mansouriya were among fields offered in licensing rounds last year. Mansouriya didn’t receive any bids and Akkas got only one offer from a group of five companies led by Italy’s Edison SpA, which wasn’t accepted. Siba was initially included in the second round, and later withdrawn.
Iraq awarded 10 contracts to international companies in last year’s two rounds. The government unveiled a plan this week to double crude oil output to 4.5 million barrels a day by 2014. It’s also seeking to boost natural-gas production to feed power plants and market abroad.
Iraq may be a source of gas for the planned Nabucco pipeline, designed to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fuel by tapping into Azeri, Turkmen, Iranian and Iraqi resources.