The Iraqi government was still considering the bids Wednesday evening, following bidding a day earlier that was supposed to determine who would develop eight oil and gas fields, said Assen Jihad, an Iraq Oil Ministry spokesman.
ExxonMobil had the highest bid Tuesday for the field, while China's CNPC bid also edged out the LUKoil offer.
"We are waiting on the government of Iraq to announce the awards," Len D'Eramo, a Houston-based spokesman for ExxonMobil, said in e-mailed comments.
Earlier news reports suggested that the bidding fell though completely, however, leaving Iraq to seek new ways to develop its vast oil reserves.
Iraq asked winning bidders to lower the price at which they would develop the fields under 20-year contracts, an offer they reportedly rejected. Jihad said Wednesday that "the top two consortiums for each field have made new proposals," AFP reported.
"If there's new bidding and we're invited, we will make our proposals," said Grigory Volchek, a spokesman for LUKoil Overseas, the foreign operations subsidiary.
He praised the bidding as a "step forward" for the Iraqi government, which showed that it was willing to talk to international oil majors.
LUKoil placed its bid with U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips, which owns 20 percent of its Russian partner. They offered to bring West Qurna-1's output to 1.5 million barrels per day from 280,000 million bpd now, seeking $6.50 for every additional barrel above the current output.
Exxon, which teamed up with Royal Dutch Shell, said it could produce 2.35 million barrels per day for a fee of $4 per barrel. The Iraqi government said it would pay a maximum of $1.9 per barrel.
Shell spokesman Adam Newton said only, "We are continuing to monitor developments closely" and referred further questions to Exxon. D'Eramo declined to comment until Iraq makes a decision.
Iraq on Tuesday was able to award a contract for just one of the fields it offered. But opportunities to get a foothold in Iraq will remain even, if the country rejects the other bids, a Western industry source said.
"We think the Iraqi government is still as committed to increasing their production," he said. "How they want to realize their aim is the subject for discussion."
The West Qurna-2 field, for which LUKoil used to hold development rights during the rule of Saddam Hussein, was not part of the bidding. LUKoil, backed by the Russian government, has lobbied heavily to have the contract revived.
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