Iraq has selected nine companies, mostly state-owned concerns from emerging markets, to compete in a second oil bidding round, the country's Oil Ministry said.
In an undated statement posted on its Web site, the Ministry said the nine companies had been selected from 38 companies and consortia that had applied to participate.
The selected candidates are: Rosneft (ROSN.RS) and OAO Tatneft (TATN.RS), both Russian state-owned companies; JSC KazMunaiGas Exploration and Production, a unit of the Kazakh national oil company; Vietnam-owned Petrovietnam Exploration and Production Corp.; Angolan national oil company Sonangol; Pakistan Petroleum Ltd.; India-owned Oil India Ltd. (OIL.Y); U.K. company Cairn Energy PLC (CNE.LN); and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.