The awarding last week of the exploration and production (E&P) contract for Iraq’s second biggest gas field to a Chinese consortium comprising two of its relatively unknown firms rounds off a spectacular month of success for Beijing in tightening its hold over Baghdad. It follows a slew of new ‘fifth-plus’ and sixth oil and gas licensing concessions its companies won in the past two weeks across the country, from north to south and from east to west. For China’s Jereh Group (comprising one half of the consortium), the…