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
![](/images/white-fade.png)
Also in this section
5 September 2024
The 20th century’s two global conflicts made clear the geopolitical importance of oil, while Russia and Saudi Arabia joined the US as hydrocarbons superpowers
5 September 2024
In the second part of our history of oil special on the ascent of the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia, we examine the early years of the age of oil
5 September 2024
In this first part of the first chapter of our 90th anniversary special on the history of oil, we look at oil’s humble beginnings and the start of its rise to prominence
2 September 2024
The island nation plans to phase out nuclear energy and substitute coal for gas, but must first overcome import capacity constraints