Iraq has signed a five-year gas exploration contract with Pakistan Petroleum that gives the Pakistani company the right to explore gas block 8, which covers an area of 6,000 sq km in eastern Iraq
Under the contract, the firm must invest at least US$100mn to explore the block covering the provinces of Wasit and Diyala.
"The oil production and the gas production from this block will not only help the Iraqi economy, it will help the Pakistani economy also," Pakistan Petroleum chief executive Asim Khan said.
"It will be a step forward from this project to other projects at national level. We are planning to spend a minimum of US$100mn to start exploration activities and we might need additional US$400mn as investments."
Pakistan Petroleum won the contract in May this year in a public auction and agreed to a remuneration of US$5.38 pboe eventually extracted from the block, which is thought to contain gas.
