Iraq is in the final stages of studying bids from Japan's Nippon Oil, Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol, and plans to announce the winner of a deal to develop its Nassiriya oilfield by the end of May, a senior oil official said on Wednesday.

'We are doing final analysis of the offers submitted by Eni, Repsol and Nippon. We will try to select the best offer during the last third of this month,' deputy oil minister Ahmed Al-Shamma told Reuters.

Iraq has previously said the southern field could pump 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) within 18 months. Eni executives have estimated the field could eventually produce up to 1 million bpd.-Reuters