ROME--Eni SpA (E) is threatening to quit Iraq unless Baghdad signs outstanding energy contracts, Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said on Tuesday.

"We have been waiting for these contracts to be signed [for renewal] for the last six months and if they aren't within a couple of weeks, we will leave," said Mr. Scaroni on the sidelines of a conference in Rome.

Mr. Scaroni added that he had no reason to believe that the Iraqi authorities won't sign the production contracts. "We are hopeful," he said.

Italy's largest oil and natural gas company is the operator of the big Zubair oil field, while other partners are Occidental Petroleum Corp., Korea Gas Corp. and Iraqi state company Missna Oil Co.

Last May, Eni and the Iraqi oil ministry agreed to revise the plateau production target at Zubair from 1.2 million barrels a day to 850,000 barrels a day.

In September, Zubair's daily production was about 300,000 barrels.

Eva Palombo, of MF-DJ, contributed.

Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@wsj.com

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