China National Petroleum Corp, the parent of PetroChina Co Ltd, is expected to obtain new exploration rights to the al-Ahdab oil field in Iraq, CNPC-owned China Oilnews said.
Assem Jihad, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry, was quoted as saying that CNPC officials arrived in Iraq on March 6 to negotiate a new contract to jointly develop al-Ahdab. After China won exploration rights to al-Ahdab in 1997, activities at the field were suspended due to UN sanctions and postwar security problems.
The field has projected reserves of up to 1 billion barrels, it said.
The 1997 contract was valued at US$700 million over 23 years. Planned oil production was 90,000 barrels per day.
In February, the Iraqi Cabinet approved a draft Oil Law aimed at encouraging international companies to exploit the country's petroleum reserves, estimated at about 115 billion barrels.
The legislation is pending approval from parliament, it said.
(AFX News, 09/03/2007)