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BAGHDAD, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Iraq's Oil Ministry signed an initial agreement on Monday with a consortium led by Italian oil major Eni to develop the 4-billion-barrel Zubair oilfield. Eni has said it and its partners Occidental Petroleum Corp and South Korea's KOGAS expected to invest $10 billion in the field as they ramp up production to 1.125 million barrels per day from 195,000 bpd within seven years. The agreement was signed in the presence of Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani by Eni's Middle East head, Nasir Ramadhan, a vice president of Occidental, Glenn Vangolen, and KOGAS project manager Chu Nochol, Iraqi officials said. Depending on how quickly the agreement is approved by the Iraqi cabinet and a final deal is worked out, Zubair is likely to become Iraq's second major new contract with an international oil firm since the 2003 U.S. invasion. The Oil Ministry had reached an agreement with BP Plc and China's CNPC to develop the Rumaila oilfield, a 17-billion-barrel supergiant that accounts for around half of Iraq's current crude output. The final contract for Rumaila will be signed on Tuesday. The two multibillion-dollar deals are part of a plan by Iraq to almost triple current oil output of 2.5 million barrels per day within six to seven years. Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves but decades of war, sanctions and underinvestment mean that it only ranks 11th among global oil producers. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by William Hardy) Keywords: OIL/IRAQ ZUBAIR (michael.christie@thomsonreuters.com; +964 7901 917 030; Reuters Messaging: michael.christie.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.
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