It wasn’t meant to be like this. After nearly a decade of war, chaos and bloodshed, the Iraqi oil industry was meant to be controlled by the bureaucrats and politicians from Baghdad. But Big Oil obviously has other ideas, and in the good old-fashioned way it will do deals with anyone it can so long … Read More
Iraq Oil Law
Oil “Dominating” Iraqi Election Campaign
So seven years later it will come down to this weekend. Whether President Obama can withdraw all American combat troops from Iraq by August will be decided by the Iraqi elections this weekend. If the election passes off peacefully, American soldiers will probably go home on schedule. But if there is a repeat of the … Read More
Iraq: New “Colonial” Era of Oil Exploitation Begins
The British military may be gone, but the British oilmen are back. Today is the day that the oil men from BP take control of Iraq’s biggest oilfield: Rumaila. It is the first important oil deal since the 2003 invasion, and a long time since 1961 when Iraq passed Law 80 that wrestled back 99.5 … Read More
Iraq Offers 2nd Round of Oil Bids
So the great Iraqi oil sell-off continues. The embattled Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani will today unveil the next round of oil contracts at a conference in Istanbul. Al-Shahristani is under pressure to pull in investment after the Iraqi government’s first round only secured one deal for the vast Rumaila field: BP and China National … Read More
Iraq Trade Union Threatens BP Deal
After its offer was accepted last month to develop Iraq’s vast Rumaila oil field, BP may have thought it had won the biggest prize in the country’s oil race. But it may not be over yet and BP now faces industrial action. The trade union representing workers of Iraq’s state-owned Southern Oil Company (SOC) yesterday … Read More
Kurds Stake Claim to their Oil Reserves
This was not meant to happen. In the post-invasion planning of Iraq it was meant to be the American and British oil companies that enjoyed the spoils of war and access to the country’s lucrative oil reserves. But the Kurds keep putting a proverbial spanner in the works. Iraq’s Kurdish leaders adopted a new constitution … Read More
Iraq: Politicians Pledge to “Push Shell Out”
Only last Thursday, the boss of oil company Shell Jeroen van der Veer suggested that the oil giant was interested in joining forces with China on a number of oil projects in Iraq. “We are in the process of forming partnerships for certain bids, and Chinese companies are a part of that,” he said. But … Read More
Iraq Offers Concessions to Foreign Oil Companies
Finally, slowly but surely the oil majors are getting what they want in Iraq. Forced into action over the low oil price, Iraq’s government is proposing to give foreign oil companies a majority stake in projects developing oil and gas fields. The Iraqis are also offering further new fields for development to foreign firms, which … Read More
Iraq Oil Law “On Ice”
Oil giants BP and Shell maintain that they are still negotiating about short-term oil contracts in Iraq, despite comments a few days ago to the contrary (see blog) . However, the controversial oil law, which is seen as the key that will unlock the jewels of Iraq’s oil reserves for the oil majors in now … Read More
Democrats call for Investigation into Iraq Oil Deals
Four Democratic senators, including Senator Carl Levin have called on the State Department’s inspector general to investigate whether the agency encouraged lucrative oil deals between Iraq and several Western companies. Any back-room meddling would violate US administration policy, which was to discourage the business dealings until Baghdad passed the controversial Oil law, which has been … Read More