Iraq, Nippon Oil group oilfield talks stall

Dhiya Jaafar, the head of Iraq's South Oil Co, has said that talks between Iraq and a Japanese group led by Nippon Oil Corp to develop the Nassiriya oilfield have reached a 'dead end', Reuters has reported. 'Talks with the Nippon group have reached a dead end, and we will start developing the field through national efforts,' he said. Nippon and its partners, oil explorer Inpex Corp and plant engineering firm JGC Corp, had been negotiating the deal since the first half of last year.