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…

BP Wants Stability, Oil, Contract Laws, Before Entering Iraq

23 March 2007 UK supermajor BP is staying away from Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, to avoid antagonizing the central government in Baghdad. However, despite the Iraqi government’s recent approval of a draft hydrocarbon law, BP will not venture into the country until there is a rule of law and it can be sure that contracts signed with the existing authorities would survive political change, a senior company executive said. “Every…

Iraq Courts Four Majors for Technical Deals

6 December 2007 Four majors met with Iraqi oil ministry officials in Amman last week to initiate talks on the first commercial technical support contracts to be awarded since the US-led invasion over four years ago, Iraqi and industry sources told International Oil Daily Wednesday. The ministry is aiming to raise output by 500,000 barrels per day over the next two years. The talks with BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and…

Power Struggle in South Iraq

31 August 2007 British forces, in control of southern Iraq since 2003, are expected to complete their withdrawal from Basrah in September and redeploy to a desert airbase, having already exited most urban centers in the last year. The move is interpreted by some as a prelude to a full British military withdrawal from Iraq, and a fight for supremacy is already raging in Iraq’s oil heartland among competing political…