The Iraqi
cabinet expects to soon approve the Rumaila oil field deal that was agreed with
a consortium of BP PLC (BP.LN) and China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, in
the first bidding round, Iraq's
oil minister said Tuesday.
"The contract should be ready for approval by the cabinet very
shortly," Hussein al-Shahristani said at a roadshow for the next auction
round being held by the ministry in the Turkish city Tuesday, for new groups of
oil and gas fields.
"We are planning to hold the second bidding round process at the end of
November or beginning of December. We are expecting to sign the contracts early
January," he added.
The giant Rumaila field in southern Iraq
was the only one of eight contracts awarded in the first bidding round which
was concluded in Baghdad
in June.