Reuters reported that Britain's Premier Oil is teaming up with Russia's Bashneft to develop Iraq's oil block 12.

Mr Abdul Mahdy al Ameedi head of the oil ministry's contracts and licensing directorate said that last month Iraq awarded Bashneft rights to develop the field. Bashneft has now chosen Premier Oil as a partner. Bashneft will hold 70% and Premier Oil 30% in the project.

Mr Al Ameedi said that if another partner entered we would not object and we would welcome this on the condition that the partner is one of the qualified companies.

OPEC member Iraq holds the world's fourth largest oil reserves and is expected to be a major source of future oil supplies. In May, a group comprising Premier Oil, Bashneft and Petro Vietnam initially rejected a government offer to develop the block in Iraq's fourth energy bidding round.

Baghdad has signed a series of contracts with foreign oil companies that target total oil production capacity of 12 million barrels per day by 2017 up from about 3 million barrels per day. Most analysts see 6 million to 7 million barrels per day as a more realistic goal.

Source - Reuters

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