OREANDA-NEWS. November 28, 2012. The Iraqi ministry of oil signed a contract in its final form in Wednesday the 7th of November 2012 with the consortium of Lukoil Russian & Inpex Japanese, for the exploratory area (No. 10) 5500 square kilometers with carbonic structures / oil, which is located between Muthanna & Thiqar, which was offered in the 4th licensing round, And it is worthy to mention that, the two companies consortium offered 5.99USD  wages profit per barrel.

Mr. Deiaa Jaffar the Director General of South Oil Company (SOC) represented Iraq to sign the contract with Mr. Kati Al-Juboori the executive director of Lukoil in Iraq & Mr. Yasuhisa Kani Hala the first deputy of Inpex.

Mr. Jaffar said that his company will do their best to succeed the project for the benefit of Iraq. And he added that the two companies' consortium will make a two-dimension seismic survey for the exploratory area to determine its oil contents in addition to drilling one oil well. As well as he said that the minimum exchange requirements were 100 million dollars and the Iraqi council of ministers ratified the initial form of the contract earlier.

Mr. Kati Al-Juboori ensured that the contract signature will strengthen the mutual relations between Iraq and Russia as well as it will contribute in developing the oil & gas industry in Iraq. As well as he added that Lukoil will work with all the focus to fulfill their obligations under the contract with the Ministry, including developing Iraq's oil resources, which is one of the large oil producers.

 Mr. Kani Hala said that it is the first time for his company to contribute in the exploration field in Iraq and work seriously to achieve good results in the investment to achieve such activities in Iraq. 

Mr. Assim Jihad the spokesman of the oil ministry said that the consortium will precede their works in the 10th exploratory area. And it is the first time for Muthanna & Thiqar governorate to entre in the oil & gas investment, as well as the project will gain a big profit in Iraq in general and Muthanna & Najaf in particular and it will offer work opportunities in addition to supplying much oil to the national reserves which will enhance the national reserves of oil, adding that among other benefits that will be realized is importing additional incomes to the provinces within what is known as a petro-dollar project.

And added that the average of oil production in the southern area will witness a great increase in the first quarter of 2013 to match the size of the producing fields in the same area. And it is worthy to mention that the production in the governorates of Basra, Maysan and Nasirya is 2,500 Million BPD and the current exportation power is 2,180 million BPD as well as the capability is 2,700 million BPD.

Mr.Abdulmahdi Al-Omaidi the director general of Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate said that the contracts signature with Lukoil & Inpex is a continuation to the policy of the ministry in applying projects or service contracts to enhance the country's production of this energy for the global market.

And added that the ministry will soon present the contract or project of Nasirya Equal in a competition round like the previous licensing rounds.

It is worthy to mention that the council of ministers in its forty-second session in the 25th of September, gave the approval to the oil ministry to sign the service contracts for the exploratory areas (8, 10, 12) and wait to sign the contract of the area 9 until the oil ministry finishes its procedures.