ONGC, Pertamina Renegotiate Iraqi Deals

25 April 2008 India’s state Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Indonesia’s Pertamina recently opened talks with Iraq’s oil ministry about renegotiating exploration contracts signed with the Baath regime before the war in 2003, Iraqi officials told International Oil Daily Thursday. The two companies met with Iraqi ministry officials in Amman last week to adapt the deals to the new model contracts — called Service Exploration and Production Contracts…

Iraq: China’s Breakthrough

29 August 2008 China this week became the first country since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein to clinch an oil deal with Iraq, by reviving the first of a series of contracts signed by the previous Iraqi regime under new terms dictated by new realities. The service contract for development of the Al-Ahdab field, which includes a mix of old production sharing elements and new service contract terms, sets a…

Iraq Buys Favor With China on Al-Ahdab

27 March 2007 The Iraqi government decided to renegotiate an old production sharing contract which had been signed by China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) to develop the 90,000 barrel per day Al-Ahdab oil field with the former Iraqi regime “for political and legal reasons” rather than retender, a senior Iraqi government official told International Oil Daily late last week. CNPC officials traveled to Baghdad earlier this month for a first…

Iraq: Splits Dog Oil Law

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…