Iraq prepares for next oil contracts

BAGHDAD, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Iraq at a Tuesday conference in Istanbul will unveil its next set of oil fields that it plans to put on the auction block for international bidders.

Iraq held its first post-invasion auction in June for technical-service contracts for oil and gas fields currently under production. Only BP and China National Petroleum Co. moved ahead with the contracts, with other majors citing security and government terms as reasons to stay away.

Embattled Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani will court oil executives at a Tuesday conference in Istanbul, highlighting the potential of several undeveloped fields, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The contracts for the fields are 20-year deals where international oil companies take revenue based on oil production. Most companies take possession of the oil under conventional terms, but the Iraqi government is still without a national hydrocarbon law that provides the legal framework for that type of deal.

Security could weigh on potential investors at the Tuesday seminar as violence in Iraq escalates, with an Aug. 19 series of bombings claiming close to 100 lives.

Among the more lucrative fields on the next auction block are the West Qurna-2 field, with 13.8 billion barrels of estimated reserves, and the Majnoun field with 12 billion.