Iraq’s Oil Ministry has announced the names of oil and gas operating companies that have been qualified to participate in a new round of licensing for onshore and offshore blocks in the country.
The ministry’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) has stated that it has chosen five out of the eight companies that submitted qualification documents between 15 August and 9 November last year, to bid for the ‘Iraqi borderline onshore and offshore exploration blocks and fields project’.
The announcement on the official website did not mention which oil blocks were being offered for exploration.
The companies that have been nominated as pre-qualified bidders are:
- Dana Gas (UAE, privately-owned)
- Dragon Oil (UAE, part of Dubai’s ENOC)
- Geo-Jade Petroleum Corporation (China)
- Schlumberger (US)
- Zarubezhneft (Russia)
PCLD mentioned that the expression of interest (EOI) documents that were submitted by the qualified companies were evaluated as per the licensing rules of the Oil Ministry, and covered four aspects: technical training, financial, legal, and health, safety and environment (HSE).
The licensing contract and the final tender protocol will be issued on 16 April, and the bidding process will take place on 7 May.
The participation fee for entering the bidding process and securing the data package has been set at $100,000, with each of the qualified companies due to receive their letter of interest from PCLD.
Apart from the 5 pre-qualified companies, the Oil Ministry has also invited other international operators which have been qualified to bid for other licensing rounds in Iraq from 2015 till last year. Below is the full list:
- BP (UK)
- China ZhenHua Oil Company Ltd (China)
- CNOOC (China)
- CNPC/PetroChina (China)
- Crescent Petroleum (UAE)
- Daqing Oil Field Company Limited (China)
- Eni (Italy)
- ExxonMobil (USA)
- Gazprom (Russia)
- Itochu (Japan)
- JSOC Bashneft (Russia)
- KOGAS (South Korea)
- Lukoil (Russia)
- ONGC Videsh (India)
- Pakistan Petroleum Limited (Pakistan)
- Pertamina (Indonesia)
- Petronas (Malaysia)
- Royal Dutch Shell (Anglo-Dutch)
- Sinopec (China)
- United Energy Company (China)
- Total (France)
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