Iraqi Opposition Threatens to Annul Contracts

18 December 2002

Iraqi opposition exiles on Tuesday unveiled the results of a three-day confab in London, having agreed to set up a 65-member coordinating committee to follow up on principles and proposals agreed at the conference, and adopted in a main political statement and a document entitled the “transition period project.”

The conference, attended by 350-plus delegates, focused on the roles of different groups and parties in a post-Saddam Iraq, the nature of the regime to be established, and challenges of a transition period between the fall of the current regime and the adoption of a new constitution.

The issue of oil was largely absent, except for calls in the final statement for Iraqi oil production to be maximized during the transitional…

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al-Hakim . contracts . coordinating committee in exile . Iraqi opposition . Khalilzad . London conference 2002 . oil contracts . PUK . Saddam Hussein . SCIRI . State Department . Talabani . transition period project . war for oil 2002

Post-Saddam Iraq Remains Mystery to Oil Companies in Waiting

23 October 2002

International oil companies interested in securing footing in a post-war Iraq have few clues on where to start. The Bush administration is forging ahead with war plans, but US State Dept. attempts to organize an energy working group for exiled Iraqi opposition members are in disarray as divisions among the opposition groups persist.

“A number of oil companies have been querying about the possible political outcome of a war on Iraq,” says one US diplomat. At the moment, however, “we are mostly concerned with building an international alliance,” the diplomat said.

An earlier State Dept. plan to host a group of Iraqi opposition members this month to prepare development plans for Iraq’s oil and gas sector, to be presented to…

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contracts . INC . IOCs . opposition groups . post-saddam oil policy . post-war scenarios . State Department 2002

Iraq Aims to Hike Capacity by End-2003, Despite Sanctions

10 July 2002

Iraq is aiming to increase its sustainable oil production capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2003, without help from foreign oil companies and assuming that UN sanctions remain in force for the foreseeable future, Iraqi oil ministry sources say.

Iraqi Oil Minister Amer Rashid recently put current sustainable production capacity at 3.2 million-3.3 million b/d, although other estimates are lower.

Under a “national effort” program launched in 1999, Iraq brought on stream the giant Majnoon oil field in May. This is currently producing 50,000 b/d and should hit 100,000 b/d by year-end, Rashid said. Iraq also finished the first phase of the West Qurna oil field development.

The new targets will not be limited to the…

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Amer Rashid . exports . faleh al khayat . Majnoon . oil-for-food program . Opec . production capacity . sanctions . West Qurna 2002

Solo Efforts

4 July 2002

Iraq is developing its oil fields with or without foreign help — including the giant fields promised to companies such as France’s Total Fina Elf and Russia’s Lukoil. But the firms are always welcome to hop on board, Iraqi Oil Minister Amer Rashid says.

Under a “national effort” launched in 1999, Iraq brought the giant southern Majnoon oil field on stream last year, Rashid says. The field was supposed to be developed by Elf Aquitaine — now part of Total — under a production-sharing contract. But after initialing the deal in 1998, Elf never signed on the dotted line because of UN sanctions. Total also signed up for Bin Umar, another big southern field, but again didn’t firm up…

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Al-Ahdab . Amer Rashid . Bai Hassan . Bin Umar . CNPC . Elf . field development . Hemrin . Khabbaz . Khurmala Dome . Kirkuk . Lukoil . Majnoon . national effort . oil production . ONGC block 8 . Pertamina . PetroVietnam . production capacity . PSA . Saddam field . sanctions . Tatneft . Total . TPAO . West Qurna . western desert . Zarubezhneft 2002