Shell says Majnoon investment 'tens of billions'

BAGHDAD Dec 20 (Reuters) - A group led by Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will invest "tens of billions" of dollars in a deal to develop Iraq's supergiant Majnoon oilfield, a Shell executive said on Sunday.

"It is a big field and investment will occur over a long period, 20 years," Shell's Mounir Bouaziz told reporters after the initial signing of an agreement with Iraq's Oil Ministry in Baghdad. He declined to give a precise investment figure but said: "It is tens of billions."

Shell, along with Malaysia's state-run Petronas [PETR.UL], won in an energy auction earlier this month the rights to Majnoon, located near the southern oil hub of Basra. (Reporting by Muhanad Mohammed; writing by Missy Ryan; editing by David Stamp)