Washington  - The United States would welcome increases in Iraq's oil production to help alleviate the crunch in the world's energy market, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.

"It will be a good sign if Iraq can increase its oil production, because, of course, the supply and demand of oil is a major concern to all of us," Rice said on FOX News.

Rice was commenting on a report in The New York Times about four large Western oil companies being in the final stages of negotiations with the Iraqi government to service the country's oil fields.

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP - the four largest companies - and Chevron and were in talks with the Iraqi Oil Ministry for non- competitive bids to begin work, the newspaper reported.

Rice said the US government was not involved in the process but said the development shows "the Iraqis are beginning to make a good case for foreign investment."

"The United States government has stayed absolutely out of the matter of the awarding the Iraq oil contracts," she said. "It's a private-sector matter."

Any deal would bring the four big companies back to Iraq for the first time in 36 years. The Iraqi Oil Ministry is seeking help from the firms to modernize the government's ability to harness oil, The Times said.

The Oil Ministry is pursing deals despite the lack of an oil law that would be designed to ensure oil profits are shared fairly among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups.

Completing the law has been a difficult challenge for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government but is seen as a key objective toward fostering political reconciliation between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. (dpa)