Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back

Oil fields in the Iraqi province of Basra. Iraq produces about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Moises Saman for The New York Times

BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

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The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production.

See complete text at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Original source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?partner=rssnyt&em...

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Posted June 19th, 2008

WAR

On June 19th, 2008 Richard Pratt says:

It's starting and always was, WAR for OIL rights !! Why are only US, UK and EU companies in the running ? What about all the other oil companies in the world, don't they get to bid on rights ? I guess you have to be part of the problem (war) to get the rights to bid.