Iraq Punishes Oil Firms With KRG Deals

16 January 2008 Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has followed up on threats to punish companies that sign deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) by canceling the memoranda of understanding (MOU) some had inked with his ministry, a ministry source told International Oil Daily from Baghdad Tuesday. This is the first concrete step toward depriving them of any future deals with Baghdad. Al-Shahristani had persistently told companies that Baghdad…

Iraq’s Emerging Alliances

24 August 2007 When Iraq eventually opens again for upstream business, the new rule in town will be competitive bidding — as opposed to former one-on-one negotiations. In effect, this will throw the game open to all for giant fields previously negotiated by international firms, such as West Qurna, Majnoon and Nahr bin Umar. Alliances have already emerged between some companies — including Russian Lukoil and US ConocoPhillips, Chevron with…

Iraq: Who’s Working Where?

28 February 2003 In talking about possible war against Iraq, Bush administration officials insist that their main objective is not to get their hands on the country’s massive oil reserves. But post-war, fierce competition is almost bound to erupt between US oil firms that have been kept off-limits by the Iraqis, and those — including Russian, Asian, and European companies — that either have firm contracts with the current regime…