Companies bidding for nearly 30 oil and gas sites in Iraq as part of licensing rounds 5 and 6 have shun one site with an area of more than 10 times the size of Bahrain.

In a statement published on Tuesday, the iraqi oil ministry said 7 firms from China and 15 other companies were awarded concession sites across Iraq last week.

“Only one site has not been awarded....all companies did not bid for that site,” the Ministry said in the statement, carried by Alforat News and other publications.

The statement identified the site as “Tubal” in the Western Al-Anbar province with an area of nearly 9,348 sq km.

Al-Forat quoted experts as saying the site was shunned because it lacks any drilled wells and the needed infrastructure.

“This site was also avoided by all bidding firms because of its massive area and for other logistic reasons,” one expert said.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach: Editing by Bhaskar Raj)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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