Iraq has pushed back by a month the date of an auction for international firms that want to develop three of its gas fields, company executives and Iraqi oil officials said on Sunday.
Baghdad had said it will invite all 45 international companies which were prequalified in the two oil auctions last year to bid for Akkas field in the western desert, Siba in the southern hub of Basra and Mansuriyah in eastern Iraq.
The auction was to have taken place on September 1 but will now be on October 1, oil ministry officials said on condition they were not identified. The ministry is holding a workshop for interested bidders in Istanbul on Sunday and Monday to discuss details of the gas bidding round and contract terms. The ministry had said it was considering postponing the gas auction to give companies more time.
Companies heard at the workshop that the Iraqi government would commit to purchasing half of the gas produced at the fields, while the other half would be for export, a senior Iraqi oil official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The government would seek companies' "help" in finding export markets, he said. One executive with an oil company that may bid for a field said the delay may still not be enough time for potential bidders to come up with customers and export routes, as Iraq lacks sufficient infrastructure to send gas across borders.
"It's not clear how much gas is needed to justify a viable export route," the executive said, declining to be named. "There are questions about how much new infrastructure is required and who will build it ... With these new terms, two months is definitely not enough time to come up with the structures."
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