International oil companies will pay Iraq this year $850 million as
signature bonuses for signing deals to develop seven oil fields awarded during
the country's second licensing auction held in December last year, the Iraqi
cabinet said in a statement Wednesday.
The cabinet has agreed to add these signature bonuses to this year's budget and
increase the investment budget for the oil ministry, the statement said.
Each winning company has to pay an amount that ranges between $100 million and
$150 million for each field in accordance with the size of the field. The
fields that have been allotted are Majnoon, West Qurna Phase 2, Garraf, and
Halfaya in southern
Iraq
,
Badra in the middle and Qaiyarah and Najmah in the north.
The cash would help to ease an Iraqi budget deficit of 22.9 trillion Iraqi
dinars ($20 billion). The country's 2010 budget was set at IQD84.6 trillion.
Iraq
,
which sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves, is in dire need of cash
to finance its war-hit infrastructure rebuilding efforts.
The country has signed 10 major oil deals last year and earlier this year with
the aim of boosting its crude oil production to around 12 million barrels a day
in six to seven years from now. Iraq is currently producing only 2.4 million barrels a day.