BAGHDAD - Development of Iraq's Mansuriya gas field on the coast near the Iranian border is expected to cost $2.1 billion, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Monday.

China's Sinopec last month won a deal to develop the field in partnership with Iraq's state-run Midland Oil Company.

Abdul Jabbar also said he does not expect oil prices to drop below $65 a barrel and that lower oil prices should not be a concern after OPEC+ eases production cuts from May. 

Iraq is also in talks over the potential purchase of ExxonMobil's stake in the southern West Qurna 1 oilfield, he added at a Baghdad news conference.

There are discussions at the oil ministry about the "Basra Oil Company taking ownership of West Qurna 1 and leading the project, as happened with Majnoon," Abdul Jabbar said, referring to the huge Majnoon oilfield in the south of the country.

Iraq last month approved a 2021 investment budget of about $1.15 billion to develop Majnoon and raise its output to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd), from its current 130,000 bpd, within three years. 

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed Writing by Amina Ismail Editing by Louise Heavens and David Goodman) ((amina.ismail@thomsonreuters.com; +20 2 2394 8114;))