Iraq threw open the world’s third-largest oil reserves to foreign firms on Monday, putting US and British companies in a position to return to Iraq for the first time since Saddam Hussein nationalized Iraq’s oil over three decades ago. Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani listed eight oil and gas field areas open to foreign firms for long-term development contracts.

Hussain al-Shahristani: “Through these initial offers, we hope to increase production of these oilfields to about 1.5 million barrels per day, in addition to current production which is 2.5 million barrels per day. The ministry is seeking to increase production from now until contracts are put into effect, until it reaches 4.5 million barrels per day in the next five years.”

The Iraqi government has already pre-qualified forty-one foreign firms to bid for the contracts. Iraq postponed the announcement of a series of no-bid contracts that are expected to be given to ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, BP and Chevron to service Iraq’s largest oil fields.