July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, said it will continue to bid for business in Iraq after the government there said it may allow competitor BP Plc to develop the Rumaila oil field.

Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said he discussed the matter “in detail” with Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani on a visit to Iraq.

“I think he understood our position and we will do our best on both sides to find a solution for Total to participate in the near term and medium term to the development of the huge resources of Iraq,” de Margerie told journalists attending a conference in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Iraq and a BP Plc-led group may sign a contract to develop the Rumaila oil field in about two weeks, earlier than planned, after the holder of the third-largest oil reserve approved the bid, a government official said yesterday.

The June 30 BP Plc award was approved yesterday by the government, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, deputy director-general at Iraq’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate, said. Contracts for the licensing round were to be signed in August, according to a schedule on the Directorate Web site.

Iraq failed to award most of the contracts offered in an auction aimed at attracting foreign partners to help develop its oil and gas fields. It seeks to more than double output to 6 million barrels a day by 2015 and may develop some of the fields not awarded on its own, spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said yesterday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Deen in Aix-en-Provence, France at markdeen@bloomberg.net; Francine Lacqua in Aix-en-Provence, France at flacqua@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 3, 2009 14:13 EDT