China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is interesting in developing the Majnoon oilfield in Iraq, Reuters reports.

A number of other firms, such as Eni, BP, Chevron, and Total have also expressed interest in the field.

Majnoon is currently operated by Royal Dutch Shell, but the company will officially hand over operations at the field before July 2018, Reuters previously reported.

The Iraqi government will wait until Shell has handed over operations before negotiating with other international oil companies (IOCs), according to Reuters.