The Iraqi oil ministry has received an initial development plan from BP PLC (BP.LN) and China National Petroleum Corp., which won the rights to the country's giant Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq in June, paving the way for a final signing of the contract, sources in the Iraqi oil ministry said Wednesday.
They said that the plan was submitted last week to the ministry's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate, or PCLD, which has set a deadline of July 15 for the winners to hand in development plans.
"The ministry wants to see if the winners are serious and they aren't gambling before signing the contract," one source said.
"The plan supposed to be preliminary and doesn't go into details."
The real detailed development plan of the field needs to be submitted six months after officially signing the contract, another source said.
The PCLD suggests August as the month for a final signature of the deal, the only one awarded in the first postwar licensing round held last month, out of two gas field and six oil fields.