Iraqi government approves BP oil field offer
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REUTERS
Iraqis in Baghdad celebrate the withdrawal of US troops from the country's cities and towns yesterday
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Iraq's government today approved a BP-led consortium's offer to develop a giant oil field in the south, moving forward with the only deal struck during a much-hyped but ultimately disappointing international oil auction.
Iraq, which is desperate for cash to fund its reconstruction efforts, had put six oil and two gas fields on offer to foreign firms yesterday in the country's first international oil licensing round in over three decades. But the auction — opposed from the start by many of the country's lawmakers — failed to elicit the kind of excitement or commitments Iraqi oil officials had anticipated.
BP and its Chinese consortium partner CNPC walked away from the auction with development rights for the 17.8 billion barrel Rumaila field. But their win came only after they agreed to take less money for the oil they produced.
Under the service contracts, the companies are paid a per barrel price for production over a minimum target level. BP and CNPC had bid $3.99 per barrel, but slashed their price to the $2 per barrel payment sought by the oil ministry. Their only rivals for the fields, a consortium led by US giant Exxon Mobil, refused to amend its offer of $4.80 per barrel on target production of 3.1 million barrels per day.
The Cabinet of ministers signed off on the BP deal, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
The government did not say when the signing would take place.
But many expect the oil ministry to try to move forward quickly, if for no other reason than because al-Shahristani needs to replenish the already-limited political capital he spent in pushing past lawmaker objections and bringing the bidding round from plan to reality.
He billed it as the answer to Iraq's cash crunch, and the lackluster showing could further embolden his critics.
The promise of access to about 43 billion of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of crude reserves was apparently not appetizing enough for foreign firms to overlook the inherit risks they face in a country still emerging from decades of sanctions and a US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
Many lawmakers have opposed the bidding process from the start, saying al-Shahristani's push to have the contracts approved by the Cabinet instead of the parliament renders them illegal. Many ordinary Iraqis — who still say the US-led war was mainly for oil — worry that giving foreign firms access to the country's key resource opens the door for economic occupation.
In a sign of the potential obstacles companies will face, Ali Balo, the head of the parliament's influential oil and gas committee said Wednesday the contracts "will face huge problems" if parliament is not allowed to sign off on them.
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Comments
oil multinationals will be shortly preparing to replace the defunct pipeline which existed between Mosul and Haifa with a new one ,but in order for the plan to see fruition the Palestinian Question will
have to be solved first ,more than likely through the continuation of violence in order to displace them thus protect the pipeline.
So Iraqs oil is worth about 1 billion per 1$ oil price i.e. 365 (days) x 2,500,000 * 70 (oil price) = 75 billion per year
The US planned to spend $200 billion on Iraq and actually spent well over 1,000 billion
So, the lie was that the 13,000 billion per year GDP USA splanned to spend 200 billion to steal oil worth in total 70 billion per annum
This is a CRETINOUS assertion
And of course its not true. What we saw yesterday was no oil stolen and perhaps the most attractive oil deal for a reserve owner ever written. We saw Chinese and European oil firms all over the process and not a single contract awarded to US companies.
What we saw was the Iraq state oil companies demand production plateau's way below what was bid by all players and costs demanded way below what every oil company bid, state and nasty "big oil" (oooooohhh, nasty)
This tells us somethiong. For 30 years the Iraq state oil company has failed to raise Iraq's production above 1979 levels of 2.7 mb/d despite Iraqi oil being the easiest and cheapest in the world to find and produce. Today their estimates of the potential production are perhaps half what a proper oil company see's. State oil companies, unless made to compete for their business, are always like this. They are stuffed full of political place people and often pretty muchb devoids of talent and skill. Why else has Iraq failed to raise its production for 30 years?
Still, the lie that the US was out to steal oil has been the back story for most suicide bombers. Add in other infantiale and bigotted lies like permanenet bases, puppet govts and what did we get? Yes, a huge pile of dead bodies. I blame the story tellers and hjope they will not be allowed to forgety the filth they have indulged in for 7 years.
Iraq is politically free, no oil has been stolen and all troops will leabe by 2011 as per SOFA.
All done despite the simpering cant and outright ignoirance of gaurdianistas and done IN SPITE OF gaurdianistas. How you must fear Iraqi success. For it will go on shaming you for decades, as it bl**dy well should you nasty idiots
Listen toi Maliki. he said yesterday that people who claimed the US troops would never leave gave the green light to terrorists to kill Iraqi civilians. Quite. Just like the oil theft lie and the puupet govt lie, the very foundation of Iraqi insurgents death cult. Are you ashamed? Why not?
Just a quick reminder for all those experts in the art of hindsight.
The YouGov Poll has long carried the question "Do you think the US and UK are/were right or wrong to take military action against Iraq."
In the weeks from the start of the war (March 20 2003) to July 22 2003, at least 50% of the people polled answered "right". It was only in May of 2004 that the majority decided that the action was wrong, which is a little bit like trying to change your bet after the race has started and your horse is not doing as well as anticipated.
So where are the "50% and over" now -presumably keeping their heads down along with all those Tory MPs who were keener on going to war than were Labour?
Maybe the world just became a considerably better place everywhere?
I am such an optimist, maybe I shall burn in hell for it.