Pertamina, ONGC to start gas exploration in Iraq "soon"
Monday, May 27 2002 - 02:47 AM WIB
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Pertamina of Indonesia will "soon" begin gas explorations in southwest Iraq, Iraqi Oil Minister Amer Rashid said Sunday.
"ONGC and Pertamina will soon begin explorations in the region between Najaf and Karbala provinces, close to the Iraqi-Saudi border," Rashid told Al-Rai weekly newspaper.
Rashid said the "two companies signed contracts in the past in the framework of the oil-for-food programme," introduced in 1996 to allow Baghdad to sell crude under UN supervision to meet the humanitarian needs of its sanctions-stricken population. (*)