Nigerian oil workers have threatened to go on strike over the appointment of foreign inspectors who by contract will receive a small percentage fee for every barrel exported.

Iraq's oil exports in December were the highest since July as northern exports carried the weight of a drop in the south, Oil Ministry data show.

Iraq's Oil Ministry has opened a new pre-qualification application process for firms that didn't pass the cut for the first round of oil and gas field bidding.

Iraqi oil exports increased last month to 1.76 million barrels per day as the price for oil continued to fall, according to data from the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

Iraq's Oil Ministry made good on a pledge last month to turn around a four-month decline in oil exports as Iraqi oil starts fetching less than $60 a barrel.

Two companies developing oil fields in Iraq's Kurdistan region received approval from Baghdad to tie in to the northern Iraq pipeline, a company official said.

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Oil companies from Pakistan, Thailand, Angola, Algeria, Turkey and Vietnam are qualified to bid on Iraqi oil and gas field deals to be awarded next June.

Officials at Royal Dutch Shell and the Iraqi Oil Ministry refute claims that a proposed gas joint venture would have exclusive access to Basra's gas industry, though a key member of Parliament criticizes the project.

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Iraq's Parliament will begin debate next week over the long-stalled and highly controversial oil law, the first post-Saddam Hussein law governing oil and gas.