Iraq Bars Sinopec Group From Oil License on Addax Buy (Update2)

Iraq will bar China Petrochemical Corp. from bidding for contracts to develop oil fields after the state-owned company agreed to buy Addax Petroleum Corp., which operates in its northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

The Chinese company, known as Sinopec Group, won’t be allowed to take part in the second round of bidding for development licenses this year, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, deputy director general of the department at the Iraq Oil Ministry that handles the bidding, said by telephone today. Zhang Zheng, head of foreign affairs at Sinopec Group, couldn’t be reached at his office today, as offices were closed for China’s National Day.

“We consider any company that signs contracts in the Kurdish region as disqualified,” al-Ameedi said. The decision to disallow Sinopec Group is final “unless they withdraw from the Kurdish contract. It depends on them.”