9 March 2007 Having waited so long for a law offering the framework necessary to regularize and legitimize future investments in Iraq’s vast oil resources, international firms itching to get their hands on the biggest Mideast opportunity in decades now find consensus — perhaps the most important ingredient of all — lacking. Iraqis are divided over the legitimacy of signing contracts while the country is wracked by chaos, and some…
Tag: Nassiriyah
Baghdad’s Oil Priorities
1 June 2007 Iraq has missed a May 31 deadline to approve the country’s first hydrocarbon law since regime change in 2003 — but in Iraqi terms, that’s no big deal. Every other deadline pushed by the US administration in the past four years for rebuilding the country’s institutions has also been missed. But for Iraq’s dilapidated oil sector, the delay is pushing back some initiatives that could provide a…
Iraq Seeks New Refineries, Export Pipes
12 September 2006 Iraq is embarking on new projects to add refining capacity and build new pipelines, in a bid to meet domestic fuel needs, insure stable exports from northern oil fields, and raise overall export capacity to 3 million barrels per day within the next five years, according to Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani. Baghdad has revived refinery upgrade plans that were tendered in several packages over the past…
Three Options for Oil in Iraq Constitution
25 July 2005 As an Aug.15 deadline approaches for agreeing on a final draft of Iraq’s new constitution, Iraqi officials say the document should be ready for debate by a special committee next week, to be followed by the National Assembly. However, agreement remains elusive on how ownership and management of Iraq’s vast oil resources should be formulated in the draft constitution, a member of the constitutional drafting committee told…