By Daily Crux Editor Sean Goldsmith:

For the first time in more than 30 years, Iraq will grant Big Oil access to its massive oil reserves. The oil-rich nation, with an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil - second only to Saudi Arabia - will auction contracts to foreign oil companies for the first time since the country nationalized its oil industry more than three decades ago.

The country currently produces 2.4 million barrels of oil a day. Foreign expertise could boost that number to 4 million within four to five years.

120 oil companies bid for the job… 35, including giants ExxonMobil, Sinopec, and Lukoil, were eligible. The chosen foreign companies won't own pieces of the reserves, but will be paid a fee to extract oil from the ground.

Around 20 of Iraq's roughly 80 known oil fields have been fully or partially developed… and the oil is oozing from the ground. Production in Iraq would cost $1.50 to $2.25 a barrel compared to $20 a barrel in Canada.

"We're talking about a huge volume of crude flowing through their system for the companies who win the bids," says Samuel Ciszuk, IHS Global Insight's Middle East Energy analyst.

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