Iraq to auction 12 oil, gas fields in January

BAGHDAD, Apr 25 (AFP): Iraq is to auction 12 gas and oil fields to foreign firms in January 2012, in the fourth opening of its energy sector since Saddam Hussein's fall, Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi announced Monday. "The auction will take place in the first month of 2012," Luaybi told journalists in Baghdad. The bidding will be "for 12 exploration blocs, seven for gas and five for oil." The auction is the fourth round of bidding for foreign companies, following similar sales in July and December 2009, as well as last October. Iraq's energy sector was closed off before the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled Saddam. "The auction continues the work of the ministry and the three previous auctions, and the aim is to increase (proven) oil and gas reserves" through new finds, Luaybi said. He said the blocs on offer were in the provinces of Babil, Basra, Dhi Qar, Muthanna, Najaf, Qadisiyah and Wasit in the south, Diyala and Nineveh in the north, and Anbar in western Iraq. Iraq has so far signed 11 oil contracts with international energy companies following the two auctions in 2009. Last year, it also awarded three gas fields for exploitation, vying to become an international player in the gas market. Current oil production is around 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), of which about 80 percent is exported. Gas production -- all associated discharge from oil wells -- is 1.5 million cubic metres (53 million cubic feet) a day, but half is burned off in flares from oil wells, according to experts.