France's Total and a consortium led by China's CNPC have revised bids to develop Iraq's giant West Qurna oilfield and would soon meet Iraqi officials for talks, a senior Iraqi oil official said on Monday. The two companies rejoin Exxon Mobil and Russia's LUKOIL in competing for the field, which Iraq failed to award at its first bidding round in June.
All four of the consortiums baulked then at what they saw as stiff contract terms for the field. The winner of the service contract for phase one of the West Qurna field, which has reserves of 8.7 billion barrels, would be announced within two weeks, Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, deputy director of Iraq's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate, told a news conference in Istanbul.
The deal is one of three that the Iraqi government is close to sealing which would almost triple Iraq's output to 7 million barrels per day (bpd), making it one of the world's top oil producers.