BAGHDAD - Iraq has issued a tender to foreign oil companies to drill 30 wells in three oilfields in the southern province of Maysan, the Oil Ministry said on its website on Wednesday.
The offer for the fields of Halfaya, Noor and Abu Gharab on a turn key basis closes on April 15 and the work must be completed within 18 months of the start date, the ministry said.
Foreign firms are invited to drill 10 wells in each field, the document on the ministry's website said.
"This tender is part of an accelerated plan to raise crude production in the southern fields," a senior engineer at the Maysan Oil Company told Reuters.
"Output is declining. We cannot stand and watch; we have to do something. This will not be the last tender," he said.
At least one of the fields, Halfaya, is classed "super giant," with reserves estimated at 5 billion barrels. On Sunday, the Maysan Oil Company said it had invited international firms to build a 50,000 barrel-per-day production facility on Halfaya.
Halfaya and Abu Gharab are among fields for which the Oil Ministry announced bidding rounds for long term development contracts last year.
Iraq sits atop around 116 billion barrels of oil, the world's third largest reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran, but it needs billions of dollars of investment to overhaul its long neglected oil sector and boost production after decades of war and sanctions.
It currently produces around 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd), the Oil Ministry says, and exports around 1.84 million bpd. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said Iraq seeks to boost long-term production to 6 million bpd.
The world's biggest international companies are competing for contracts to service some of Iraq's biggest oil fields, in what Baghdad hopes will be a big step toward attracting foreign investors back to the country's energy sector.
Iraqi officials have expressed dismay at persistent low world oil prices, currently just under $49 a barrel, which they say threaten to derail attempts to rebuild a war-shattered nation and restore basic services like electricity.
The offer for the fields of Halfaya, Noor and Abu Gharab on a turn key basis closes on April 15 and the work must be completed within 18 months of the start date, the ministry said.
Foreign firms are invited to drill 10 wells in each field, the document on the ministry's website said.
"This tender is part of an accelerated plan to raise crude production in the southern fields," a senior engineer at the Maysan Oil Company told Reuters.
"Output is declining. We cannot stand and watch; we have to do something. This will not be the last tender," he said.
At least one of the fields, Halfaya, is classed "super giant," with reserves estimated at 5 billion barrels. On Sunday, the Maysan Oil Company said it had invited international firms to build a 50,000 barrel-per-day production facility on Halfaya.
Halfaya and Abu Gharab are among fields for which the Oil Ministry announced bidding rounds for long term development contracts last year.
Iraq sits atop around 116 billion barrels of oil, the world's third largest reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran, but it needs billions of dollars of investment to overhaul its long neglected oil sector and boost production after decades of war and sanctions.
It currently produces around 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd), the Oil Ministry says, and exports around 1.84 million bpd. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said Iraq seeks to boost long-term production to 6 million bpd.
The world's biggest international companies are competing for contracts to service some of Iraq's biggest oil fields, in what Baghdad hopes will be a big step toward attracting foreign investors back to the country's energy sector.
Iraqi officials have expressed dismay at persistent low world oil prices, currently just under $49 a barrel, which they say threaten to derail attempts to rebuild a war-shattered nation and restore basic services like electricity.
