Iraq will ask companies to begin submitting bids for new exploration licences for oil and gas in June and will announce preliminary results next January, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said.
The government plans to hold a promotional conference for the new licences in August, he said in Baghdad today.
Mr Kareem al-Luaibi also said that Iraq will "soon" sign a deal to develop the Akkas gasfield. The agreement was due to be signed in February after a delay of more than three months, with partners Korea Gas Corporation, known as Kogas, and KazMunaiGaz National, Kazakhstan's state fuel producer.
Crude oil exports are currently average 2.08 million barrels a day and will rise to 2.1 million barrels by the end of April, Falah al-Amri, head of the State Oil Marketing Organisation, said at the same conference.
Bloomberg News
