Iraq's cabinet has given the nod to the Oil Ministry to ink agreements with foreign oil firms to help boost the country's crude output, a ministry official said Wednesday. According to the AP, the two-year deals, known as technical support agreements, or TSAs, are meant to develop five producing fields to add 500,000 barrels per day to Iraq's 2.4 million barrels per day output.
Late last year, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. submitted technical and financial proposals for the five fields and received counterproposals from the Iraqi side. In January, representatives from the firms and Iraq met again in Amman and they will hold a third round of discussions later this month, said the official.
Iraq's average production was 2.4 million barrels per day in January while exports stood at an average of 1.92 million barrels per day. December's exports averaged 1.81 million barrels per day.
The oil giants are among more than 70 international firms that met the ministry's deadline of Feb. 18 to compete to help develop Iraq's oil reserves.
© 2008 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
