Iraq offers foreign oil firms more data on fields

By Simon Webb

ISTANBUL, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Iraq has offered international energy firms more data on the giant oil fields they will compete to work on after executives complained that existing information was inadequate for them to evaluate output potential.

The offer goes some way to helping companies measure the risks involved in taking on multi-billion dollar investments in the oilfields of Iraq. But other questions on transparency remain a concern, executives said on Friday.

Iraq is holding a bidding round for service contracts to overhaul dilapidated infrastructure and boost output.

Around 30 oil companies have already spent millions of dollars for data packages on the fields under offer, which contain more than a third of Iraq's reserves.

But after years of war and violence, periods of output data were missing, oil executives said.

"They're going to provide us with a second package of data for free," one executive from an international oil company told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "I hope that will be enough, as previous data was patchy."

Poor data gave international oil firms that had carried out technical studies on the fields since the invasion of Iraq an advantage in the bidding race, said executives from several oil companies participating in a three-day workshop hosted by Iraq.

Officials have cleared up some oil company doubts on the contracts and sweetened the terms but executives have raised other questions about transparency on contract awards both within and without the bid round.