China’s state-owned firm Sinopec may yet sign a deal to develop Iraq’s Mansuriya gas field in early May, according to an unnamed oil ministry official quoted by state newspaper Al Sabah on 26 April. Sinopec originally won an award for the field in 2021 (MEES, 23 April 2021), targeting eventual output of 300mn cfd, but withdrew after a failure to agree terms with Baghdad. Last month, Oil Minister Hayan Abdulghani stated that the ministry was in talks with another firm to replace Sinopec, and if those talks didn’t advance, the field would be tendered as part of an upcoming gas-focused licensing round (MEES, 31 March).