Critical Choices

It took the Iraqi oil ministry eight months to negotiate technical support contracts (TSCs) with major oil companies for five oil fields before they were cancelled at the last minute in June 2008. Those TSCs could have offered Iraq the first significant foreign help in rehabilitating its producing oil fields in at least three decades. True, they were no-bid contracts but the commitment on the side of the state and…

Jabbar Al-Luaibi

Former Director General of South Oil Co and oil ministry advisor Jabbar al-Luaibi discusses in an interview with Ruba Husari in Dubai May 16, 2009 the state of the oil fields in southern Iraq and the reasons behind the recent loss in production capacity at Iraq’s major producing oil fields.   Q: You brought the oil sector back from the ashes in 2003 and ramped up production till you achieved…

Iraq Starts Countdown for Contract Awards

14 October 2008 Iraq’s oil ministry on Monday launched a competition among 35 international oil companies for six of Iraq’s most prized oil fields and two undeveloped gas fields under 20-year service contracts, which Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said he expects to be “finalized and presented to the Iraqi cabinet for ratification before the end of June.” Prequalified companies for Iraq’s first bid round, including all the majors as…