China oil officials due in Baghdad for Ahdab talks

BAGHDAD, Mar 5 (Reuters) Oil officials from China will arrive in Baghdad on Tuesday for negotations with Iraqi oil ministry officials over a Saddam-era contract to develop the Ahdab oil field, an Iraqi official said on Monday.

Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad also told Reuters in an interview that Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani had met China's new ambassador to Baghdad on Monday to discuss a planned visit by President Jalal Talabani and the oil minister to China this month to discuss oil and other economic cooperation.

Iraq's cabinet approved a long-awaited oil law last month that will lay down regulations for foreign companies investing in Iraq's oil sector.

Before the 2003 Iraq war, China had agreed a 0 million deal with Saddam Hussein's government to develop the Ahdab oil field. The contract is now being renegotiated.

REUTERS CS HS1817