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Iraq initials 13 exploration offers as looks for to concentrate on gas

Iraq has signed initial offers for 13 oil and gas exploration obstructs and fields, the country's oil ministry stated on Wednesday, adding the contracts might increase output by 750,000 barrels of crude and 850 million basic cubic feet (mscf) of gas.

Iraq wanted this licensing round - the nation's sixth - in particular to increase output of gas, which it wants to use to fire power plants that rely greatly on gas imported from Iran, Iraqi oil authorities said.

Iraq's Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani stated in a statement, the increased gas production could enable more flexibility to supply electrical power plants with gas.

The offers initialled on Wednesday were awarded in a bidding round held in May, in which Chinese business controlled.

They will be profit-sharing contracts that provide a share of profits after subtracting royalty and cost healing expenditures, an oil ministry authorities who went to the finalizing ceremony on Wednesday stated.

Speaking on condition of anonymity due to the fact that he was not authorised to speak to journalism, he stated Iraq had adopted profit-sharing agreements rather than technical service offers to try to draw in more investment.

Conventional technical service agreements use a fixed cost for work undertaken and are likely to be less financially rewarding for foreign investors than production-sharing terms.

In the May bidding round for 29 oil and gas jobs, Chinese companies won 10 of the auctioned oil and gas blocks and fields.

(source: Reuters)