Iraq: Another New Gas-Focused Bid Round – Can It Attract Major Interest?

23 Jun 2023 Issue: 66 / 25 By: Yesar Al-Maleki

Baghdad is trying its luck again with a gas-focused exploration round, but oil majors and even second-tier IOCs will need lots of convincing. The new blocks are scattered far away from the country’s infrastructure, while security is still a major concern for foreign investors.

Iraq’s Oil Ministry finally announced its much-touted Sixth Licensing Round (LR6) on 18 June offering eleven “promising gas” blocks that mostly sit close to the Syrian, Jordanian and Saudi borders. The move aims to capitalize on the momentum the new government has built from ratifying awards from the 2018 Fifth Licensing Round (LR5) in February (MEES, 24 February), which was followed by a ‘LR5+’ annex comprising of 13 mostly-modest exploration blocks (MEES, 19 May). LR6 brings the total number of blocks currently on offer to 24.

The announcement comes within the timeline specified by Iraq’s oil minister Hayan Abdulghani in late-May when he said that investors would be provided with details of the offerings within 4-6 weeks (MEES, 26 May). (CONTINUED - 1343 WORDS)