Iraq initials exploration deal with Pakistani firm

We are now initialling a contract between the Iraqi oil ministry and Pakistan Petroleum, says an Iraqi official. PHOTO: FILE

“We are now initialling a contract between the Iraqi oil ministry and Pakistan Petroleum,” said Abdul Mehdi al-Amidi, the head of the ministry’s contracts and licensing department.

Referring to deals with consortia led by Kuwait Energy and Russia’s Lukoil that will be initialled on Monday and Tuesday respectively, Amidi said: “We will send all these agreements to the cabinet for approval, and then we will sign the final contract.”

During a two-day auction for exploration blocks in May, Pakistan Petroleum won a contract for a 6,000 square kilometre block thought to contain gas in the central Iraqi provinces of Diyala and Wasit.

The company agreed to a remuneration fee of $5.38 per barrel of oil-equivalent eventually extracted. Iraq has proven reserves of 143.1 billion barrels of oil and 3.2 trillion cubic metres of gas, both of which are among the highest such deposits in the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2012.