Schlumberger, Weatherford International, Halliburton and Baker Hughes are prominent among the list of major oilfield services and engineering firms to announce expansion plans in Iraq in the past week.

Weatherford, the fourth-largest oilfield services firm in the world, has announced plans to train 1,000 Iraqi staff to support growth in the country's oil industry, while Halliburton plans to invest around $100 million in Iraq this year alone.

The companies will support the likes of BP, China National Offshore Oil Corp and ExxonMobil, all of which have won contracts to develop fields in the country.

All contract winners have also made provisions to boost local employment with the provision of oil training programmes.

Speaking to Bloomberg during a conference call, David Lesar, chief executive officer at Houston-based Halliburton, commented: "There's going to be plenty of work in Iraq, and believe me, all the service companies will have opportunities there. So we're going along at the pace we want, and we're confident we're going to be successful."

Getenergy Exploration and Production news