Iraq to sign Akkas gas field deal with KOGAS and KazMunaiGaz
Iraq to sign Akkas gas field deal with KOGAS and KazMunaiGaz this week Iraq's oil ministry will this week sign an initial deal with South Korea's KOGAS and Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas to develop the western Akkas gas field, an oil ministry official said on Monday. 'After initialling the contract we will send it to the cabinet for final approval,' Sabah Abdul Kadhim, the head of the legal section of Iraq's Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate. The deal will be signed Thursday. Akkas has estimated reserves of 5.6 trillion cubic feet. The companies won a deal to develop the western Akkas gas field, near the Syrian border, last October in Iraq's third energy auction since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The initial signing, originally scheduled for Nov. 14, was postponed due to a row between the central government and provincial authorities over possible gas exports. Authorities in western Anbar province, the Sunni heartland and a former al Qaeda strongh...