Iraq has announced the names of the nine onshore and offshore oil blocks within its territory which it seeks to develop along with international exploration and production (E&P) companies this year.

MEED had on 7 January reported the Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) of Iraq’s Ministry of Oil pre-qualifying five out of the eight companies that had submitted expression of interest (EOI) documents to be able to bid in the licensing round, along with 21 other E&P companies which had also been pre-qualified by the ministry based on their work in Iraq since 2015.

According to the PCLD, the nine blocks contained in the ‘Iraqi borderline onshore and offshore exploration blocks and fields project’, near Iraq’s borders with Kuwait and Iran are:

• Khudr Al-Maa (Kuwait border)
• Jabal Sanam (Kuwait border)
• Faw (Kuwait border)
• Sindbad, which contains Sindbad 1 and 2 (Iran border)
• Huwaiza which contains Huwaiza southern (Iran border)
• Shihabi (Iran border)
• Zurbatia which contains Zurbatia & Tariq (Iran border)
• Nift Khana which contains Mandeli, Habeeb formation, Tal Ghazal, Hattab, Nazardak, Saadiya, Nift Khana, Aqaba and Nawdoman (Iran border)
• Offshore block – located in Iraq’s territorial waters in the Gulf.

The statement on the ministry’s website also mentioned that Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luiebi had in November last year invited foreign operators “to invest, participate and compete on the exploration, development and production from 9 borderline blocks”, without naming the concessions at the time.

The licensing contract and the final tender protocol are expected to be issued on 16 April, and the bidding process will take place on 7 May.