Letter from Iraq: Licences fail to lure IOCs

Oil majors play it safe amid unfavourable terms in latest oil and gas licensing bid rounds allowing Chinese low-ball moves

Iraq held its combined ‘fifth-plus’ and sixth licensing rounds in May. The offering had been since two years previously, when the Ministry of Oil announced the round with 30 blocks. The projects are distributed into 16 within the fifth-plus round, including eight exploratory oil blocks, and 14 blocks within the sixth round, including 11 blocks for non-associated gas exploration and three oil and gas blocks. The ministry was keen on the geographical distribution of these projects, and they included all the governorates of Iraq—from Nineveh and Anbar through to Salah al-Din, Najaf, Karbala, Babylon, Qadisiyah, Muthanna, Basra, Maysan, Wasit, Diyala and the capital, Baghdad—to contribute to ach