Iraq offers up giant oilfields to foreign firms

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq on Wednesday opened up some of its most prized oil and gas fields to international firms that have been excluded for decades, part of new deals that could more than double its output within a few years.

In a second bid round, following on from one earlier this year, Iraq has put forward 11 fields.

Two of the oilfields -- Majnoon and West Qurna Phase II -- are classed as super giants and between them could produce 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) when fully developed.

"Under service contracts prepared by the oil ministry, 11 oil and gas fields will undergo complete development," Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told a Baghdad news conference.

Shahristani named the other fields as Halfaya, East Baghdad, Gharrafa, Qayara, Najmah, Badrah, Kifil/West Kifil/Mirjan and a group in Diyala province, as well as Basra's Siba gas field.

He said the 11 fields could increase production by up to 2.5 million bpd within three to four years of the contracts being completed at the end of 2009. That increase is roughly equivalent to what Iraq produces today.

Three of the fields are jointly owned with neighbors Iran and Kuwait. Developing them would require bilateral deals with those states, which were not opposed, Shahristani said.

In June, Iraq announced a first bidding round for long-term contracts for eight big oil and gas fields, which could add a total of 1.5 million barrels per day to the nation's output.