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Iraq has awarded three of its established gas fields to foreign consortia in the third stage of an energy sell-off, as the country races to supply gas to local power plants and to export markets.

The three fields, in the south, centre and far west of Iraq were sold at or slightly below the price the oil ministry had wanted. They were taken by three groups that now have rights to develop about 10% of Iraq's proven gas reserves – around 300bn cubic metres.

The Iraqi government maintains overall control of the fields (As was the case with the two rounds of oil auctions conducted last year), and will pay each consortium a fee per barrel of oil equivalent.

The winners of the three fields have been announced as follows:

As Iraq reports the results of its recent gas auctions, the western province of Anbar is demanding more control over its potentially huge energy reserves, including the vast desert province’s Akkas reservoir.

According to Reuters, Anbar’s government last week rejected Baghdad’s plan for the auction due to the possibility that surplus gas will be exported.

Anbar’s opposition reflects deep discontent in Iraq’s Sunni heartland about the Shiite-led central government.

“We are against the approach of the central government and we will be against any contract between the central government and any company in the world,” Anbar Governor Qasim Abid said.

“We have our own vision of how to develop this [field].”

Mainly Sunni Anbar Province, controlled by Al-Qaeda in the years following the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein, has been relatively quiet since tribal sheikhs joined forces with US troops to drive out Sunni Islamist militants in 2006 and 2007.

“We demand the Oil Ministry start exploration in Anbar because it’s unfair to develop and start production from oilfields in some provinces and ignore the billions of barrels of crude we have,” Anbar provincial council leader Jassim Mohammad said.

Anbar authorities warned they would refuse to provide security to foreign firms working in Akkas and would use all means, including “civil revolt,” if Baghdad ignores their demands.

Two weeks ago Iraq revised its estimates of oil reserves upwards, and this was immediately followed by Iran doing the same.

Now Reuters reports that a former oil minister has cast doubt on the numbers and on the motivation of the governments in issuing the figures, saying that the estimates are politically motivated and not justified by the evidence.

Mr Issam Al Chalabi, who served as Iraqi oil minister in the government of Mr Saddam Hussein, said Iraq's announcement last week that its proven oil reserves were 25% higher was 'unreliable'. Unfortunately the announcement that was made last week has not been substantiated by proper evidence; he said that it is not a reliable figure. This is not the way to handle the reserves. I think it was made for political reasons.

According to BP data, Iraq raised its total estimate of proven oil reserves to 143 billion barrels making it the holder of the world's third largest reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Iraqi officials said that the figures had been inflated by new estimates for the West Qurna and Zubair oilfields. But Mr Chalabi, who was Iraqi oil minister from 1987 to 1990, questioned the motivation for the new estimate.

Reuters reports that Russia is talking directly with Iraq's oil-rich Kurdistan region about investment opportunities there, Russia's ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday, a strategy that could irritate Iraq's central government.

Baghdad is at odds with the semi-autonomous northern region and has strongly opposed oil deals the Kurds have signed independently with foreign companies. The row has interrupted exports from Kurdish oilfields.

Speaking inside the heavily fortified Russian embassy compound in Baghdad, ambassador Valerian Shuvayev said Russian delegates often visited Kurdistan to explore opportunities.

"They go to Kurdistan quite a lot. There is nothing concrete but both sides are thinking about how to take this further," he said in an interview.

Asked if Russian companies considered signing contracts with Kurdistan directly, Shuvayev said: "Why not? If (a project) is feasible, then why not. And there have been talks." He was tight-lipped on the details and declined to name the companies.

The British Iraqi Friendship Society (BIFS) will host its Annual Gala Dinner and charity auction at the Royal Garden Hotel, London, on 17 November.

BIFS was founded to inform the British public about all aspects of Iraqi life and culture, including its history, heritage, arts, language and traditions.

The society organises a programme of events throughout the year providing insights into Iraq from well-known and experienced speakers who are specialists in their field.

The Gala Dinner, which is now in its second year, is being kindly sponsored by RPS Energy.

The BBC’s World Affairs Editor John Simpson was last year’s guest speaker and this year’s speaker is set to be equally high profile.

Tickets cost £120 including VAT. Tables of 10-12 are available. To register your interest please email [email protected]

Registration must be made no later than 10th November, 2010.

Iraq's Ministry of Oil will auction off more gas fields on the 20th October 2010.

Xinhua was told by an official: "The bidding for the gas fields of Akkas in Iraq's western province of Anbar, Mansuriyah in eastern Diyala province and Siba in the southern province of Basra, will be held on October 20th." Ministry of Oil figures put the gas reserves of these fields at 11.23tn cubic feet. Currently, the country is producing just 1.5bn to 1.65bn cubic feet per day from proven reserves of 112tn.

This auction has been delayed from May, as firms needed time to look into the contracts, which could last 20 years, according to Nina News. There was a symposium last month so that firms could review the petroleum reserves of the fields.

Countries with interested companies include: France, India, Japan, Kuwait, Norway, Turkey, Russia, South Korea and the UK.

In the first two rounds of licensing, the Ministry of Oil signed 12 contracts, with the aim of increasing oil production to 12m barrels per day by 2017. Currently it produces about 2.5m barrels and exports about 2m.

Read more on oil and gas.

(Sources: Nina News, Xinhua)

Mott MacDonald has been appointed by BGR Energy Systems to carry out detailed engineering and procurement support for the Akas and Al-Mansuria gas fields which are being developed by the State Company for Oil Projects.

The project is being developed to meet the growing demand for gas within Iraq. The gas produced from the two gas fields will be exported to major industrial and commercial users in Iraq.

The design capacity of both gas processing facilities is 110 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of product gas. Each gas processing facility will include a gas gathering station, gas and condensate separation, a gas sweetening and regeneration unit and a gas dehydration and regeneration unit.

Mott MacDonald, the global engineering, management and development consultancy has been appointed to carry out detailed design and engineering for the gas fields which will involve process, civil, piping, electrical and instrumentation engineering. The services also include HAZOPs and technical procurement support, including technical bid evaluation and vendor submission reviews.

Mott MacDonald’s project director, Basavaraj Angadi said, “Mott MacDonald has been providing a diverse range of management consulting, engineering and project management services to the oil and gas sector for over 40 years. We offer the full spectrum of technical expertise.”

Detailed engineering for both fields is expected to be completed towards the middle of 2011.

An Iraqi government spokesman said on Tuesday that the water injection project to help boost production from Iraq's southern oilfields is expected to exceed $10 billion.

Reuters reports that Iraq's cabinet approved a plan on Tuesday to repay the cost of the scheme to the international oil companies that would need to initially fund the project.

Quoting government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, the report says Iraq still needs to negotiate how to make the repayment, which will be taken from the country's future oil revenues.

"This we need to negotiate with them. It depends on how to make the repayment structure, because it is huge amount. It will affect the revenue of Iraq," said Dabbagh after the weekly cabinet meeting.

U.S. oil major ExxonMobil had said it was taking the lead among oil companies that won development contracts for southern oilfields in two auctions last year, in coordinating initial studies for the project.

The cost of the project would be distributed among those majors, an Iraqi oil official said in April.

The water injection scheme could help raise extraction rates at Iraq's southern oilfields such as West Qurna, Majnoon, Zubair, and Rumaila. The fields are being developed by oil majors such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell , Lukoil , China's CNPC and Eni of Italy .

Water injection helps to increase the amount of crude that can be pumped from oilfields and will be a key to enabling the oil firms to reach ambitious production targets set in the oilfield development contracts.

The project aims to produce 10-15 million bpd of water and would use seawater, an Exxon executive told Reuters in July.

(Sources: Reuters, Platts)

Rumours of a delay in Iraq's gas auction have proved to be true, with companies being given an additional three weeks to consider their response to the new contract terms.

Both AKnews and MEED report that the new deadline for submissions is extended from 1st October to 20th October.

AKnews suggests that as many as 45 companies may be in the running for the three contracts, but MEED reports that only 11 companies had paid the participation fee by Friday's deadline.

Click here for more details of the gas fields being auctioned.

(Sources: AKnews, MEED)

Gas companies bidding to develop three Iraqi gas fields (Mansouriya, Akkas, and Siba) have had the terms of the deal clarified.

Reuters reports that the companies will not have to develop export facilities or pipelines, and that the Oil Ministry will pay the companies anyway so long as they have done the required work (even if Iraq fails to establish the national gas pipeline network in time to receive gas from the fields).

Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, director general of the Iraqi Oil Ministry's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate, said: "There is no article in the contract that states that companies should build export infrastructure. The contractor digs wells then produces gas and builds infrastructure to process and manufacture the natural gas."

He also clarified that the companies will not be responsible for finding customers for the gas.

Click here for more details of the gas fields being auctioned.

(Source: Reuters)