Tokyo: November 18, 2009A group of Japanese companies led by refiner Nippon Oil Corp could enter final negotiations for a deal to develop Iraq's huge Nassiriya oil field as early as Sunday, a Japanese newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Nippon Oil and its partners oil explorer Inpex Corp and plant engineering firm JGC Corp are close to signing an engineering, procurement and construction deal valued at $10 billion for Nassiriya, which has 5 billion barrels in reserves.
A Nippon Oil spokesman declined to comment on the report in the Yomiuri newspaper, saying only that negotiations were still ongoing.
A delegation from Nippon Oil traveled to Baghdad earlier this month but refused to leave the airport and go to the oil ministry to finalise a deal, Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani said last week.
