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…
Tag: gas fields
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…
Baghdad, Kurds Quarrel Over Oil Claims
29 September 2006 Officials in Baghdad and the northern Kurdish government locked horns this week over the Kurds’ claimed right to award production sharing contracts to foreign oil companies. The spat prompted a Kurdish threat to break away from Iraq, in a development that bodes ill for the country’s future unity. The quarrel centered on whether the Iraqi oil ministry in Baghdad should have a say in how — and…