Iraq oil auction flops on investor greed

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The head of Iraq's state-owned North Oil Co (NOC) expects the next auction to develop the country's oil and gas fields to be a success, provided would-be foreign investors rein in their "greed".

Iraq's first tender offer in four decades last June - which saw investors snub all but one of the eight contracts put up for auction - failed because "foreign investors were a little bit greedy", Manaa al-Obaydi told news agency AFP earlier this week.

"I think the Iraqi government put up a price, which may or may not have been fair, but the bidders came with a price that is four times as much," Obaydi said.