Iraq, Oil Majors Conclude Support Talks

13 May 2008 Five oil majors have wrapped up talks with Iraqi oil ministry negotiators on short-term technical support contracts for five oil-producing fields and are now expected to submit their final proposals to the ministry by June, Iraqi oil sources told International Oil Daily Monday. The Iraqi oil ministry is keen to finalize the deals before it launches its first licensing round for long-term development contracts early this summer….

Iraq: Paralysis At The Top

8 August 2008 More than nine months after they were first launched, Iraq’s technical support contracts (TSC) — the first commercial agreements with Big Oil since nationalization in the 1970s — are in limbo. The official view from Baghdad is that the short-term deals are losing their relevance due to protracted negotiations and the possibility that they will overlap with the award of long-term service contracts under the recently launched…