If oil and politics are closely intertwined, this is certainly exemplified by the era of Middle East concession acquisition exploration and development, and more so in Iraq than anywhere else. The concession agreements were negotiated between the powers of the day, and enforced on the embryonic governments of the time. Production plans and policies were based on the consuming powers’ needs, with little consideration given to the concessionaires The concession era in Iraq is characterized by: the slow-go approach of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) & Associated Companies and the Major oil companies’ abilities to shift their activities where it best served their interests and to strengthen their negotiating powers, thus sitting on discovered and potential reserves way beyond market production requirements and developing production capacity to meet the oligopolistic Majors’ downstream needs.
From a special address to the IEA workshop on Iraq Energy outlook, Istanbul May 4, 2012