Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries has bagged two oil blocks in the Kurdish region of Iraq that may hold one billion barrels of oil reserves. Reliance Industries has signed a contract for the blocks Rovi and Sarta in northern Iraq with the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), company sources said on Wednesday.
The blocks measuring 450-500 sq km have almost 80 per cent oil bearing structure and Reliance is confident of making a discovery soon. Reliance Industries paid a signing amount of US$ 15.5-17.5 million for the two blocks.
May anger Baghdad
When asked if the KRG had awarded the two blocks to RIL along with five others to foreign companies defying Baghdad’s proposed new oil law, the source said, “As per our understanding, KRG has made the awards in accordance with the proposed law.”
Meanwhile, a report from another agency said the oil deals may anger Baghdad, which opposes the unilateral sell-off of crude blocks in the absence of a national oil law. Prime Minister Nri al-Maliki’s government had urged KRG not to sign any deals until the new national oil law is passed in parliament.
The KRG’s Minister for Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said that with signing of these contracts, 20 international oil companies are now working in the region. “A further 24 blocks in the region are the subject of intense interest from international companies. There will be more announcements soon,” he was quoted by the agency.
