Firms challenge Iraqi oil auction

Several major Western oil corporations are in dispute with the Iraqi government over contracts to run six oil and two gas fields.

The contracts were offered in a televised auction last week.

Only one of the 32 approved bidders for the contracts, which include Shell, BP, Exxon and Total, has agreed to the oil ministry's terms.

The government has asked the rest to reconsider resubmitting their bids for the contracts that are left.

BP and China's CNPC have agreed to run the 17-billion-barrel Rumaila field after Exxon Mobil turned it down.