OREANDA-NEWS. Iraq has awarded USD 347.8 million worth of drilling contracts for the Maysan oilfields in the south of the country, a government statement said.

 Iraq awarded the contracts to three international oil service companies to drill 39 production wells in the 2.5-billion-barrel Maysan complex being developed by China's CNOOC and state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO).

 U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford was awarded two drilling contracts worth USD 94.98 million and USD 82.39 million respectively. China's Bohai Drilling Engineering Company won a USD 96.66 million contract, the statement said.

 COSL, a specialised oil services unit of CNOOC, was awarded a USD 73.82 million drilling deal. It was not clear from the statement how many wells each company would drill.

 Iraq signed a deal in 2010 with China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and TPAO to develop Maysan, comprising several small oilfields, aiming to reach a production target of 450,000 barrels per day by 2016.