Iraq

Abdul-Mehdi Al-Amidi, the Deputy Director-General of the Department of contracts and permits, right, signs a document during a ceremony with K. Suzuki, Vice President of Japan's Japex , left, Ho Wang Kin, General Manager of Petronas, second left, and Abdulkareem Luaibi, the Iraqi deputy Oil Minister, second right, at the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said Iraq has signed a deal to let a business partnership between Malaysia's Petronas and Japan's Japex develop a southern oil field and the companies will be paid $1.49 for each barrel produced.