Authorities in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq have approved four new oil contracts and two planned refineries.
The investment needed for the oil contracts comes to about 500 mln usd, and the investment needed for the two refineries will be about 300 mln usd, according to a release from the minister of natural resources.
Canadian Heritage Oil Corp unit Heritage Energy Middle East Ltd has signed a production-sharing contract for the Minran block, an about 1 square kilometer site in the Souleimaniyeh province.
Perenco Group unit Perenco SA has signed a second contract with the authorities for the about 2.4 square km Sindi/Amedi block, near the Iraqi Turkish border.
According to the natural resources minister, two further production-sharing contracts will be signed soon with foreign firms.
(Xinhua Financial News)