The oil ministry in Baghdad is waiting for Shell to officially exit the field located in southern Iraq before engaging in talks with other companies about developing it, they said. CNPC was not available for immediate comment.

Shell plans to exit Majnoon and hand over its operation to the state-run Basra Oil Co. by the end of June 2018, oil officials said last week.

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Jason Neely)

Stocks treated in this article : Eni, BP