Baghdad, Feb 23, (VOI) – Over 70 multinationals are competing to help develop the black gold industry in Iraq, which owns the world's third largest proven oil reserves, the New Zealand Herald said in a report.


"Big oil firms such as Royal Dutch Shell and Total have been positioning themselves for years to gain access," read the report.
The report quoted a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, Aasem Jihad, as saying: "We are going to carefully study and check the documentation. Next month we will declare the companies which are permitted to work in the Iraqi oil fields."
"Iraq produces about 2.3 million barrels of oil a day, a fraction of its 115 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, surpassed only by Saudi Arabia and Iran," the report explained.
"Some oil companies have already signed deals with the largely autonomous northern Kurdistan region. This move has angered the Government in Baghdad, which has responded by threatening to declare the deals illegal," it added.
"Firms from Europe, Asia and America are among those that have registered to bid," the report concluded quoting Jihad as saying.