Iraq aims to sign a contract for the giant Rumaila oil field with BP
PLC (PB.LN) and China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, in September a
top Iraqi oil official told Dow Jones Wednesday.
Following a two-day meetings in Baghdad last week involving
the interested parties and at which technicalities were discussed, "We
are expecting that we will sign the contract in September," Abdul Mahdy
al-Ameedi, deputy director-general at Iraq's Petroleum Contracts and
Licensing Directorate, or PCLD, said.
The PCLD has suggested August for the final signing of the
deal which is the only one awarded in the first postwar licensing round
held on June 30 in Baghdad, out of two gas fields and six oil fields.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward has said that target is
probably not realistic and Rumaila is more likely to be signed by the
end of the year.
However, Ameedi said last week's meetings, chaired by Iraqi
Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani had cleared the way for an imminent
signing.