Yemen signs oil contracts in seven blocks - agency
SANAA, April 14 (Reuters) - Yemen has signed oil production sharing agreements with 10 oil companies in seven exploration areas, state news agency Saba reported.
Yemen plans to raise its oil output to around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2010 with these and other deals with international companies. Production at the end of 2007 stood at 317,000 bpd.
Among the companies that have signed deals were Austria's OMV (OMVV.VI), India's state oil company Indian Oil Corp (IOC.BO), Norway's DNO (DNO.OL) and independent oil firm Kuwait Energy Company, Saba said.
The contracts were for blocks awarded in Yemen's third international bidding round held in 2006.
Yemen launched its fourth round last August for 11 blocks and said in January that it had accepted 25 of 30 bids from international companies for the blocks. It will announce the winners of that bidding round on July 30.
Companies accepted in the fourth bidding round included U.S. major Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), France's Total (TOTF.PA), Norway's Statoil (STL.OL) and Spain's Repsol (REP.MC).
The impoverished country on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, which struck oil in the 1980s, is seeking to attract more international oil firms to develop its ageing fields. (Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
