Iraq has picked British oil services firm Petrofac for USD 95 million contract to carry out maintenance work for its new offshore terminals and sub sea pipelines at the Gulf.
An Iraqi oil official said that under the contract, Petrofac should conduct maintenance work to ensure there are no leakages in the pipelines or any faults at the 2 new single point mooring terminals that may delay the loading of crude.
Three companies were short listed by the state run South Oil Company to bid for the project including Italy's Saipem and Australian construction firm Leighton Holdings.
The oil official said that Petrofac's offer was picked up for the service contract and the one year extendable contract has been referred to the oil minister for final approval.
Iraq has planned for four new SPM terminals which are being built by Leighton and are expected to help it in doubling crude output in the next few years. The opening of two SPM terminals this year has eased export constraints and boosted oil exports significantly.
Baghdad has signed a series of contracts with foreign oil companies that target total oil production capacity of 12 million barrels per day by 2017 up from about 3 million barrels per day. Most analysts see 6 million to 7 million barrels per day as a more realistic goal.