Chinese companies win licensing bids to explore Iraq oil and gas fields
- There were notably no US oil majors involved, even after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia met representatives of American firms last month
- Iraq aims to lure billions of dollars of investments to develop its oil and gas sector as it looks to ramp up local production and end gas imports from Iran
Chinese companies won bids to explore five Iraqi oil and gas fields on Saturday in a licensing round for hydrocarbon exploration that was primarily aimed at ramping up gas production for domestic use.
An Iraqi Kurdish company also took two of the 29 projects up for grabs in the three-day licensing round across central, southern and western Iraq, which for the first time includes an offshore exploration block in the country’s Arab Gulf waters.
Iraq aims to lure billions of dollars of investments to develop its oil and gas sector as it looks to ramp up local petrochemicals production and end imports of gas from neighbouring Iran that are currently key to producing power.
More than 20 companies pre-qualified for the licensing round, including European, Chinese, Arab and Iraqi groups.
There were notably no US oil majors involved, even after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia met representatives of US oil firms during an official visit to the United States last month.
02:05
China cements influence in Iraq with infrastructure, oil deals after US withdrawal
Five bids were won on Saturday by Chinese companies.
