French oil major Total expects Iraq to award stakes in oilfields open to bids this summer, said a senior executive said.

'It is a matter of two or three months starting from now, not only in Bin Umar but also in fields which are open for bids,' said Jean-Jacques Mosconi, head of strategy and planning at Total.

Iraqi officials have said Total and Chevron have been invited to bid jointly against Norway's StatoilHydro for a contract to develop the six-billion barrel Nahr Bin Umar southern oilfield.

In April, Iraq's vice-president Adil Abd al-Mahdi said that Total had a very good chance of wining contracts in the country that holds the world's third largest oil reserves.

Baghdad is seeking foreign investment in an effort to boost production and modernize infrastructure devastated by decades of war, sanctions and neglect.

Mosconi said it would take some time to bring fields back on stream, but declined to say exactly how long it would take to restore higher levels of production, saying that element was part of the bids.

'The fields are not performing well. They are very old so all this has to be reassessed. You have big and deep production issues,' he added.-Reuters