Iraq is considering offering production-sharing contracts to foreign oil firms to encourage investment in unexplored parts of the country. This would be a major break with the technical service contract model.
Iraq needs to expand its capacity “by discovering new fields through joint ventures with specialized companies or with Iraqi partners,” Iraqi Oil Minister ‘Adil ‘Abd al-Mahdi told an energy and investment conference in Baghdad earlier this month. He also revealed that Iraq had asked Jordan to approach Saudi Arabia for a possible re-routing of a proposed oil and gas export pipeline to Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba, pending an improvement in the security situation in western Iraq’s Anbar province, which is mostly under the control of Islamic State (IS). (CONTINUED - 2415 WORDS)
