Iraq intends to pre-qualify new companies applying for oil and gas concessions in the latest round of licensing announced by OPEC’s second largest oil producer this week, an official was quoted on Thursday as saying.

The 11 concession areas announced in the sixth licensing round will be offered to foreign firms on a profit-sharing basis, said Mohammed Al-Saadi, Deputy Director of the Contracts and Licensing Section at the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

“There are two types of companies which will apply for the sixth licensing round…they include firms which have already been pre-qualified in the previous rounds and new companies applying for this round….new companies will have to be pre-qualified,” Saadi told the Iraqi Al-Mada Arabic language newspaper.

He said concessions areas in the sixth round would be offered on a profit-sharing basis after oil or gas is produced, adding that 20-25 percent of production will be controlled by Iraq.

The rest includes 50 percent for production costs and 50 percent as profits to be shared between the Oil Ministry and the investor.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)