Nippon Oil: Nassiriya deal still under negotiation

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T) said on Wednesday that it was still in negotiation to develop Iraq's huge Nassiriya oil field, despite comments by Iraq's oil minister that it refused to travel to the oil ministry to seal the deal.

A delegation from Nippon Oil arrived in Baghdad earlier this month but refused to leave the airport and come to the oil ministry to finalise a deal, Hussain al-Shahristani said late on Tuesday. [ID:nLA735806]

A Nippon Oil spokesman in Tokyo confirmed that officials from the oil firm had traveled to Iraq, but declined to comment further since negotiations were still ongoing.

Nippon Oil and its partners oil explorer Inpex Corp (1605.T) and plant engineering firm JGC Corp (1963.T) are close to signing an engineering, procurement and construction deal valued at $10 billion for Nassiriya, which has 5 billion barrels in reserves. [ID:nL2536702]

The Iraqi ministry had hoped to sign an initial contract in a few days with Japan's Nippon Oil and its partners, al-Shahristani said last week.

Iraqi officials have said Nassiriya could produce 100,000 bpd within 18 months and Eni has previously said the field could eventually produce 1 million bpd. (Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Rodney Joyce)