International oil and gas exploration, development and production company Dragon Oil announced Monday that the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the Tender Committee has signed the final service contract with a consortium of companies, including Dragon Oil, for the exploration, development and production for Block 9 in Iraq.

Following a joint bid with Kuwait Energy, the two firms will split the block (Dragon 30%) between then, with Kuwait as the operator over a five year period. If in this time frame the block is found to be commercial, the consortium will automatically become eligible for 20-year development and production phases, extendible by a further five years.

Dr Abdul Jaleel Al Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am pleased to announce the formal signing of the service contract for Block 9, which had previously been initialled on July 16th 2012.

"This step concludes the formal process following which the consortium now has the right and obligation to commence the exploration activities in the Block. We look forward to working with our partners in Iraq."

The share price fell 1.22% to 564.50p by 14:40.

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