Lukoil-Statoil, Shell among winners of Iraq oil field auction
12 Dec 2009
Russian oil giant Lukoil and partner Statoil ASA won the bidding for rights to develop the 'super giant' West Qurna-2 crude deposit, the largest in today's second-round of bidding by foreign oil majors for Iraqi oil fields, Iraq's oil ministry said today.
In yesterday's auction, Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy company, won the right to develop another 'super giant' Majnoon, beating Total of France.
Supergiants are fields with more than 5 billion barrels in reserves. Iraq has some of the largest untapped supergiants left on earth.
About 30-odd international oil companies particiapated in the auction, the ministry said.
Lukoil Holdings and Norway's Statoil Hydro ASA requested $1.15 for each barrel extracted from the giant field and projected output of 1.8 million barrels per day.
West Qurna Phase 2, located some 65 kilometers northwest of the city of Basra in southern Iraq, holds more than 12 billion barrels of crude-oil reserves.
