Baghdad - The Iraqi government will accept bids from foreign companies for investment in eight oil and gas fields for the first time since in six years, Iraq's oil minister said Thursday.

Energy companies from around the world will bid to develop six oil fields and two natural gas fields for the first time since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country. The bids will be made in a ceremony scheduled to be held on 29-30 June in Baghdad's Rashid Hotel, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani announced.

The companies will compete for rights to develop some of the most important oil and gas fields in Iraq, al-Shahristani said, including southern Iraq's Zubair and Rumaila fields, and northern Iraq's Kirkuk field.

The government is also accepting bids to develop the Akkas gas field in Iraq's western desert and the Mansuriya natural gas field in central Iraq.

Al-Shahristani said that by granting licenses to foreign companies, Iraq would be able to nearly double its production, to more than 4 million barrels of oil per day (b/d).

"Even if oil prices are around 40 dollars a barrel," he said, the resultant revenue would give Iraq "the means to achieve great wealth and to take advantage of the development of the country."

Iraq needs tens of billions of dollars to rehabilitate its energy infrastructure after decades of war, al-Shahristani has said.

Iraq's oil and gas law has been stalled in parliament for more than two years, and will likely not be sent to a vote until after the parliamentary elections tentatively scheduled for the end of this year.

"The foreign oil companies are approaching the tenders with extreme caution because the law on oil and gas has not yet been passed," former Iraqi oil minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum told the German Press Agency dpa.

"Despite the delay in the passage of the oil and gas law, the Oil Ministry has taken bold steps to develop Iraq's capabilities and expertise," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

"The Iraqi government will ... open the country to international investment and expertise in its oil and gas sector because Iraq can not develop without it," he said.

In considering international bids, the Iraqi government will "pay close attention to what partnerships international companies propose striking with Iraqi firms, and to what extent they propose using Iraqi staff and workers," al-Dabbagh said.

Seven US firms will compete with four Japanese companies, four Chinese companies, three British firms, two Russian firms, two Italian companies, two Australian companies, and one company each from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Canada, South Korea, India, France, Malaysia, Indonesia and India.

In addition to the country's vast reserves of natural gas, Iraq has known reserves of 115 billion barrels of crude oil, with additional reserves of as many as 214 billion barrels, the Iraqi government says.(dpa)