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Baghdad: Iraq's Oil Ministry unveiled on Monday six oilfield areas open to foreign firms for long-term development contracts.
The move clears the way for major international involvement in the country's petroleum wealth.
The fields are Rumaila, Kirkuk, Zubair, West Qurna Phase 1, Bai Hassan and the Maysan fields. Maysan comprises three fields, Bazargan, Abu Gharab and Fakka. Two gas fields, Akkas and Mansuriyah, were also opened.
The government has already pre-qualified 41 foreign firms to bid for the contracts. The oil ministry is expected to announce the winners at the end of 2008 or early 2009.
The Oil Ministry said last week it had finished negotiations with oil majors on six separate short-term oil service contracts and hoped to sign those deals during the next month.
The short-term deals, each worth about $500 million, are aimed at quickly lifting output at Iraq's largest producing fields by a combined 500,000 barrels a day.
Taken together, the short-term and long-term contracts will open the door to major international involvement in Iraq's oil sector for the first time in decades.
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