* Lawmakers want details on service contracts
* Spokesman says Shahristani will clear "ambiguity"
By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD, June 22 (Reuters) - Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani will appear before parliament on Tuesday to defend the country's first major auction of oil field contracts since the fall of Saddam Hussein, officials said.
Some lawmakers doubt the contracts are in Iraq's best interests, arguing the country has already invested large sums of its own in the fields, and they want to grill Shahristani on the details.
Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said Shahristani and senior officials from the petroleum contracts and licensing directorate would answer questions and remove any "ambiguity" about the deals, which are due to be announced on June 29-30.
Eager to win access to the world's third-largest oil reserves, 32 of the world's biggest energy companies have qualified and paid to take part in the tender.
But the fixed-fee service contracts to develop Iraq's six biggest producing oil fields and two undeveloped gas fields have drawn criticism within the state-run oil sector. [ID:nLH843582]
The tenders are a cornerstone of the country's plans to boost output to over 6 million barrels per day from 2.3-2.4 million bpd within five years. Baghdad needs cash from bigger oil sales to rebuild after decades of conflict.
The secretary of parliament's oil and gas committee said the minister had to explain his approach.
"The oil minister must convince us why the government should have spent $8 billion to develop oil fields, but then offer them to foreign firms like pieces of cake," the secretary, Jabir Khalifa Jabir, said.
Parliamentary sessions are slated to start at 1100 a.m. local time (0800 GMT).
The office of the deputy speaker of parliament confirmed the oil minister would attend but did not know at what time.
Tuesday's summons was not linked to separate moves by parliament's oil and gas committee to quiz Shahristani over his ministry's inability, to date, to restore oil output to the levels seen before the 2003 U.S. invasion. (Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Anthony Barker)