At the first auction, the ministry set a maximum remuneration fee of $1.90 for each extra barrel of oil produced from West Qurna-1 and $2 for each extra barrel produced from the Zubair field. At the time, all of the bidding companies wanted a maximum payment.
West Qurna is expected to hold crude oil reserves of 8.6 billion barrels, while Zubair’s reserves are estimated at 4.04 billion barrels.
“Lukoil and other companies have informed us that they [have] accepted the ministry’s remuneration fee for West Qurna-1 and Zubair,” said Ameedi.
“We are studying these new offers and we hope to award the two fields either at the end of this month or early next month,” he said, without naming the “other companies”.
