Third auction: Iraq puts three gas fields on the block

Iraq will attempt to tap its massive but underdeveloped natural gas reserves in an auction tentatively slated for September, offering three of its biggest fields to international oil companies.

"There are two main reasons behind this decision," said Abdul-Mahdi al-Ameedi, the director general of Iraq's Petroleum Contracts & Licensing Directorate. "First, to develop the gas industry and second, to provide gas for the power plants across the country. They need such fuel to generate electricity....