Iraq to develop 12 fields on new terms

Iraq’s oil ministry opened 12 small and medium-sized oilfields for bidding on Monday and signalled it would seek new terms for their development.

The tender announcement invites companies to “submit their own proposals for contractual, commercial and financial terms and conditions,” which indicates that the ministry would seek to move away from the service contracts used up until now. The service contracts require the government to pay a fixed fee for every barrel of oil produced, and the Iraqi oil ministry has been seeking to renegotiate the terms of the contracts since oil prices plunged two years ago.

The fields in the tender are located in three different provinces: three in the Central province, four in Basra province and five in Misan province.

The news of the tender came as Iraq signalled that it was seeking an exemption from the <a href=’https://theenergyyear.com/companies-institutions/opec/’>OPEC production cut deal negotiated last month, sending jitters through the market.