Iraq's cabinet ratified a contract with BP and China's CNPC to develop the super-giant Rumaila field, the first major oilfield deal to be signed after an international auction, the head of the licensing office said on Saturday.
Cabinet approval, which came late on Friday, sends "a strong signal" to other international oil companies seeking contracts to develop Iraq's vast hydrocarbon resources, Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, deputy director of Iraq's Petroleum Contract and Licensing Directorate, told Reuters in Istanbul.
Ameedi also said that Iraqi oil officials were in talks again with Royal Dutch Shell on revising its offer to operate the Kirkuk oilfield, after Europe's biggest oil company failed to win the licence in Iraq's first bidding round in June.