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ISTANBUL, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A consortium of Russia's LUKOIL and U.S.-based ConocoPhillips has a submitted a higher oil production target in their bid to develop the first phase of Iraq's West Qurna oilfield, an industry source said on Sunday.
The group had previously put forward an output target of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), below the target of a rival consortium led by U.S. firm Exxon Mobil, which had proposed a target of 2.1 million bpd.
West Qurna has reserves of 8.7 billion barrels.
"They have raised the production target. The new proposal was submitted (on Saturday) and companies expect to hear back from the oil ministry on Monday or Tuesday," the industry source said on condition of anonymity.
West Qurna was one of several fields skipped by developers in Iraq's June auction of long-term service contracts for eight of its prized oil and gas fields. Only one field was awarded, super-giant Rumaila to Britain's BP and China's CNPC.
On Friday, a senior Iraqi oil ministry official told Reuters that Exxon was the frontrunner for the West Qurna oilfield.
Both groups competing for the field have accepted a $1.90 remuneration fee -- a deep cut from June bids of $6.49 a barrel from LUKOIL and ConocoPhillips and $4 a barrel from Exxon.
Iraq has since cut taxes and sweetened contract terms to lure oil majors into making revised bids for the fields that failed to secure a developer in June when Iraq held its first auction of oil contracts since the 2003 U.S. invasion. (Reporting by Simon Webb, writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Alex Richardson)