BAGHDAD, Dec 18 - Iraq will announce a new bidding round on Dec. 29 for an unspecified number of long-term oil and gas contracts, an Oil Ministry official said on Thursday.Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said that Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani would kick off the bidding round for service contracts at a conference at the Oil Ministry in Baghdad.
He declined to reveal how many fields were involved but said details would be divulged at the conference.
"The Iraqi Oil Ministry is keen to speed up efforts to develop Iraqi oil fields as much as possible to increase both production and export rates," Jihad said.
Iraq announced a first bidding round for long-term contracts for eight big oil and gas fields in June of this year.
Jihad said Iraq, which sits on the world's third largest oil reserves and is looking to cement deals with global oil majors, would announce a third bidding round six months later.