Iraq threw open the world's third largest oil reserves to foreign firms on Monday, putting British and US companies in pole position five years after US-led troops invaded the country to oust Saddam Hussein.
The move to invite bids for the development of Iraq's largest oilfields will mark the return of the oil majors, whose cash and technical expertise Iraq needs to restore its oil infrastructure that has been hard hit by sanctions and war.
But any awards to US and British firms are likely to anger opponents of the invasion, who have said the 2003 war was designed to give Western oil companies control over Iraqi oil reserves. US and British officials have denied the charges.
By allowing international firms to help raise output at its major oil fields, the Iraqi government is breaking with the policy of major oil-producing neighbours such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates whose national firms keep tight control of foreign investment in their oil sectors.
"The six oilfields that have been announced today are the backbone of Iraq's oil production, and some of them are getting old and production is declining," Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told a news conference. He listed the areas as Rumaila, Kirkuk, Zubair, West Qurna Phase 1, Bai Hassan and Maysan - which comprises three separate fields: Bazargan, Abu Gharab and Fakka.
The Oil Ministry said they were open for long-term development contracts. Iraqi has prequalified 41 foreign firms. Shahristani said he hoped contracts could be signed in June 2009 to raise output by a combined 1.5 million barrels per day at those fields. He added that Iraq aimed to raise output to 4.5 million bpd by 2013 from the current 2.5 million bpd.
He also said the foreign bidders must take on a local partner with a minimum 25 percent stake in the deal; and that any firm that wanted to bid must open an office in Baghdad. Currently, few foreign companies have any presence in Iraq because of the security situation but recent security gains might encourage foreign companies to start investing in Iraq.
Iraq said last week it also hopes to sign six short-term oil service contracts during the next month. Taken together, the short-term and long-term contracts will open the door to major international involvement in the Opec member's oil sector for the first time in nearly four decades. The majors have been positioning themselves for years in the hope of eventually gaining access to Iraq's oil reserves.
Its proven reserves, at 115 billion barrels, are the world's largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said in April that as-yet unproven reserves could make the overall total as much as 350 billion barrels.
"We feel it is very important for Iraq to arrest any decline and increase production," Shahristani said. The short-term service deals, each worth about $500 million, are aimed at quickly lifting output at Iraq's largest producing fields by a combined 500,000 barrels a day. Five of the short-term deals that have been under discussion are with Royal Dutch Shell; Shell in partnership with BHP Billiton; BP; Exxon Mobil; and Chevron in partnership with Total.
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