CAIRO: Iraqi oil ministry has said on Thursday that ExxonMobil, the oil giant, will not participate in an auction of exploration blocks next month, a press statement revealed. The statement published on the oil ministry's website confirmed that the fourth bidding round for energy contracts would be held on May 30-31, and that the final list of prequalified companies includes a total of 47 entities, split between operators and non-operators. However, Exxon was not on the list given in the statement, as it signed a deal with the Kurdistan region to explore six areas, but Baghdad regards any contracts not signed with the central government as invalid. “Signing out a deal out of central government was a big mistake for Exxon, great losses in this year's figures will be a reasonable result for this disqualification” a special source in ExxonMobil middle-east told Bikyamasr.com. Before signing the Kurdistan contract, Exxon had already made an oil deal with the central government. The Iraqi oil ministry completed a deal with ExxonMobil and Anglo-Dutch giant Shell in January 2010, in order to develop production at West Qurna-1 with reserves of about 8.5 billion barrels. However, this contract will be canceled as Exxon wasn't committed to conditions in the contract, which is not to sign any deal inside Iraq away of central government.
