Three months ahead of Royal Dutch Shell’s scheduled departure as operator of the Majnoon oil field, Iraq has signed two stopgap contracts with international companies to manage the project. U.S.-based KBR and China’s Anton Oilfield Services Group are expected to begin work at Majnoon in April – well before Shell and its minority partner, Malaysia’s Petronas, officially exit on June 30 – three senior Oil Ministry officials said in recent interviews.