June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq is studying whether to allow China Petrochemical Corp. to bid for contracts to develop its oil fields after the company agreed to buy Addax Petroleum Corp., which has assets in its Kurdish region.

The Oil Minister hasn’t yet decided, a ministry spokesman said by telephone today. The Chinese company, also known as Sinopec Group, is among more than 30 oil producers short-listed by Iraq to bid for development rights on June 29 and 30.

The government hasn’t received official notification of the agreement between Sinopec and Addax, said Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, deputy director general of the Oil Ministry department running the bid rounds.

“They can participate so far,” he said of Sinopec. “There are some days until the bidding process,” he said, adding the government would be reviewing the deal.

The Iraqi government objected to the Kurdish region’s decision to offer its own oil production contracts to international firms and barred those companies from qualifying for the nationwide bid rounds.

The central government agreed only this month to allow crude exports from the northern region after the Kurdistan Regional Government said it would pass revenue from initial exports to the federal state.

Separately al-Ameedi said the government has not made any decision yet on who will develop the Nassiriyah oil field. Iraq invited Italy’s Eni SpA, Spain’s Repsol YPF SA and Nippon Oil Corp. of Japan to make direct offers to develop Nassiriyah.

The government is “in the stage of negotiation” with all three companies, al-Ameedi said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony DiPaola in Dubai at adipaola@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 25, 2009 12:20 EDT