Major agreements were reached with Russian firm Lukoil and Anglo-Dutch company Shell over giant fields during the two-day sale, while contracts were also awarded to China's CNPC and Malaysia's Petronas.

"Iraq's oil production will reach 12 million barrels per day (bpd) within the next six years," Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters after the auction. "That is the highest production level of the world's oil-producing countries."

Overall, the deals agreed on Friday and Saturday promise to increase Iraq's oil production by more than 4.7 million bpd in the coming seven years.

Combined with agreements reached since a similar auction in June, the country is hoping to raise production to around 12 million bpd in 2017 from about 2.5 million now.

"The question now is, is this realistic," Ruba Husari, the Baghdad-based founder and editor of www.iraqoilforum.com, asked AFP regarding the production targets. "Can they (the companies) deliver?"

The biggest agreement struck during the auction was for the West Qurna-2 oil field, awarded on Saturday to Lukoil, which will work with junior partner StatoilHydro of Norway.

Lukoil and StatoilHydro requested 1.15 dollars for each barrel extracted from the giant field and projected output of 1.8 million bpd.

West Qurna-2, with known reserves of 12.9 billion barrels, lies in southern Iraq to the west of the equally enormous Majnoon field, which was auctioned on Friday to Shell and Petronas.

Shell and Petronas will receive 1.39 dollars per barrel of oil from Majnoon, which has proven reserves of 12.6 billion barrels, and project that they will produce 1.8 million bpd.

CNPC led a group comprising Petronas and France's Total on Friday to secure Halfaya, a southern field with reserves of 4.1 billion barrels. They will receive 1.40 dollars per barrel with estimated output of 535,000 bpd

On Saturday, deals were also reached over the Garraf, Najmah, Qaiyarah and Badra fields.

Angolan firm Sonangol won contracts to develop both Qaiyarah and Najmah, which lie close to each other in the northern province of Nineveh.

Its 12.50 dollar a barrel offer for Qaiyarah had been rejected on Friday as too high. The company lowered the figure to five dollars on Saturday morning and clinched a deal.

Sonangol will produce a combined 230,000 bpd from the two fields.

A joint bid from Petronas and Japan's Japex scooped the Garraf field in southern Iraq, and will lead to additional output of 230,000 bpd at a price of 1.49 dollars a barrel.

And a consortium led by Russian giant Gazprom was awarded a contract to work Badra, near the Iranian border, and produce 170,000 bpd. The group, which includes Petronas, South Korea's KoGas and Turkey's TPAO, will receive 5.50 dollars a barrel.

No bids were received to work the East Baghdad field, or two clusters of fields referred to as Eastern Fields and Middle Furat.

Analysts said companies shied away from East Baghdad and Eastern Fields because they lie in areas of Baghdad and Diyala provinces where violence remains common.

Firms were concerned, meanwhile, that developing Middle Furat, a relatively small cluster, would prove expensive as it lacks infrastructure.

Iraq relies massively on oil sales for its economic growth and government income. It will be hoping the auction, generates positive headlines ahead of a parliamentary election scheduled for March 7.

In a first bid round in June, only one deal was reached because of the perceived low return on investment being offered by Iraq, although two other foreign consortiums have since signed deals with Baghdad.

Ironically, given accusations in some quarters that the United States led the 2003 invasion of Iraq in order to get hold of its oil wealth, only one US firm even participated in the bidding and it came out empty handed.

However, ExxonMobil was the senior partner in a group awarded the West Qurna-1 field last month.

At 115 billion barrels, Iraq has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves, behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran. Oil sales provide 85 percent of government revenues.

The auction comes just days after coordinated bombings struck Baghdad on Tuesday, mostly targeting government ministries, the third such attack since August.

Bombers have also repeatedly hit Iraq's oil infrastructure, most recently sabotaging the main export pipeline from northern Iraq to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in November.

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