China to explore Iraq’s oil and gas fields

Chinese companies have won five bids for oil and gas exploration in Iraq, becoming the only foreign bidders.
CNOOC Iraq has won the tender for the development of the Iraqi block 7 for oil exploration in the central and southern provinces of the country. Other Chinese companies such as ZhenHua, Anton Oilfield Services, Sinopec and Geo-Jade have also received licenses to develop oil fields in Iraq. While American oil companies did not participate in the bidding, the Iraqi-Kurdish CAR Group company also received two licenses.
Baghdad is seeking to increase gas production for domestic consumption to reduce dependence on imports from Iran. The gas fields have not yet attracted investors, although Total Energy s $27 billion project includes the use of associated petroleum gas for power generation.