Exxon Mobil and Chevron , the two largest U.S. oil companies, and Royal Dutch Shell, the largest European oil company, are among the oil majors expected to bid today for licenses to develop three natural gas fields in Iraq.
ENI, Italy's largest oil company, Russia's Gazprom, Mitsubishi and and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. are also expected to participate in the bidding.
The bidding starts at 10 A.M. Baghdad time. The auction focuses specifically on the Akkas, Mansouriya and Siba gas fields, which Iraq is eager to develop for domestic power generation as well as export revenue, according to Bloomberg News.
Iraq has estimated that the three fields hold a combined 11 trillion cubic feet of reserves.
Iraq has the Middle East's third-largest oil reserves and is looking to boos output to 2.3 million barrels per day.
Companies winning the contracts will be paid on the basis of barrels of oil equivalent and will not be involved in setting the price for gas exports, Bloomberg
