The Iraqi oil ministry will announce the list of prequalified companies eligible to bid for the country's second round of oil and gas tenders at the end of March, an authorized ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
"We are planning to announce results of prequalification process at the end of the first quarter of 2009," the spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Baghdad.
He said that so far several companies had submitted documents in order to qualify them for the second bidding round.
Iraq's second bidding round opened some 11 groups of oil and gas fields for international companies to invest in one of the world's largest fields.
Earlier this month, the ministry set Feb. 1 as the closing date for receiving documents from companies to check their qualifications.