UPDATE 3-Iraq says close to deals on first round oilfields

* Oil majors agree to slash remuneration fees

* ENI, Occidental, KOGAS bid for Zubair field

* ENI CEO says contract structure has been changed

(Adds company comment in paragraph 6 and additional details in paragraphs 16-18)

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Iraq is in the final stages of striking deals for oilfields left over from a June energy auction after oil majors accepted deep cuts to development fees without major changes to output targets, a top official said.

If agreed, the deals would catapult Iraq to the world's No. 3 oil producer after Russia and Saudi Arabia, up from 11th.

The deals would boost output from fields offered in the auction by up to 4.5 million barrels per day, almost tripling Iraq's total output to 7 million bpd, according to Reuters calculations.

Italy's ENI (ENI.MI: 行情), U.S. firm Occidental (OXY.N: 行情) and South Korea's KOGAS (053000.KS: 行情) have slashed their fee for the deal to develop the Zubair field to encourage Iraq to ink the contract.

The consortium has accepted a $2 a barrel fee and is in the final stage of talks with Iraq for the deal, Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told a news conference on Tuesday.

"We cut our fee (but) the whole structure of the contract has been changed," ENI's Chief Executive Paulo Scaroni told reporters at a conference. "There has been a sweetening of other elements to the point that this contract is meeting our requirements in terms of return on investment." [ID:nWLA5559]

In the June auction, a milestone in Iraq's efforts to resurrect its oil sector, the ENI-led group initially proposed a fee $4.80, which it reduced later that day to $4.40.

But the group has maintained in renewed talks with Iraq its proposed production plateau of 1.125 million barrels per day (bpd) for Zubair, which has reserves of 4 billion barrels.

A consortium of LUKOIL (LKOH.MM: 行情) and ConocoPhillips (COP.N: 行情) was competing against Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: 行情) for Iraq's West Qurna, Phase 1 field, Shahristani said. West Qurna was also offered in the June 30 auction and has reserves of 8.7 billion barrels.

The LUKOIL group has put forward an output target of 1.5 million bpd, the same as its June bid, while Exxon has proposed a target of 2.1 million bpd, slightly lower than its June offer of 2.325 million bpd, the minister said.

Shahristani said the companies competing for West Qurna had agreed to a $1.90 a barrel fee for their work -- a deep cut from June bids of $6.49 a barrel from LUKOIL and ConcoPhillips and of $4 a barrel from Exxon.

Another top oil ministry official said this week that Iraq was expecting another offer from France's Total (TOTF.PA: 行情) for West Qurna.

REVISED CALCULATIONS

It was not immediately clear why oil majors were willing to slash fees for working in a nation only just emerging from a long, bloody conflict and saddled with huge legal risks.

Neither was it clear why the Iraqi government has entered into bilateral talks with bidders after high-profile televised transparency in the first round.