OREANDA-NEWS. November 14, 2012. The Iraqi ministry of oil signed a contract in its final form in Thursday the 8th of November 2012 with the consortium of Bashnift Russian (JSOC) & Premier British (PREMIER OIL), for the exploratory area (No. 12) 8000 square kilometers with carbonic structures / oil, which is located between Najaf & Muthanna governorates, which was offered in the 4th licensing round, And it is worthy to mention that, the two companies consortium offered 5USD  wages profit per barrel.

   Mr. Deiaa Jaffar the Director General of South Oil Company (SOC) represented Iraq to sign the contract with Mr. Nicola Sergeen the director of the international projects division & business development whom represented the two companies consortium & Mr. Stuart Morrison the business manager of Premier British.

   Mr. Jaffar said that his company will do their best to succeed the project for the benefit of Iraq. And he added that the two companies' consortium will make a two-dimension seismic survey or its equivalent of 3D seismic survey for the exploratory area to determine its oil contents in addition to drilling one oil well. As well as he said that the minimum exchange requirements were 120 million dollars and the Iraqi council of ministers ratified the initial form of the contract earlier.

   Mr. Sergeen ensured that the contract signature will strengthen the mutual relations between Iraq and Russia as well as it will contribute in developing the oil & gas industry in Iraq noting that the company's long history in the oil industry is more than 80 years. As well as he added that his company will work with all the focus to fulfill their obligations under the contract with the Ministry, including developing Iraq's oil resources, which is one of large oil producers.

   Mr. Morrison said that his company is aiming to continue its activities in the field of exploration Down to fruitful the results for the interest of both sides.

  Mr. Assim Jihad the spokesman of the oil ministry said that the consortium shares are 70% for Bashnift & 30% for Premier oil and they will precede their works. And it is the first time for Najaf governorate to entre in the oil & gas investment, as well as the project will gain a big profit in Iraq in general and Muthanna & Najaf in particular and it will offer work opportunities in addition to supplying much oil to the national reserves which will enhance the national reserves of oil, adding that among other benefits that will be realized is importing additional incomes to the provinces within what is known as a petro-dollar project.

It is worthy to mention that the council of ministers in its forty-second session in the 25th of September, gave the approval to the oil ministry to sign the service contracts for the exploratory areas (8, 10, 12) and wait to sign the contract of the area 9 until the oil ministry finishes its procedures.