Azzaman, Iraq
Americans Appear
Shut Out of Iraqi Oil Field In Favor of China
"Well-informed Iraqi sources
revealed that the decision to allow China to exploit the field comes in the
context of Iranian government pressure and mediation, urging Iraq to grant oil
exploitation rights to Chinese and Russian companies and to deny U.S. companies
access to Iraqi oil and energy."
Translated By Jenny Oliver
September 4, 2008
Iraq
- Azzaman - Original Article (Arabic)
Baghdad: An oil deal with the
Chinese brokered with the help of Iran will make it harder for American
companies to exploit Iraqi oil. The contract, worth $3 billion, allows China to
drill in the al-Ahdab oil field in Wasit Governorate.
The Iraqi council of
ministers granted China oil exploration rights to the al-Ahdab field, which is
near the border with Iran. The al-Ahdab field is one of the five largest
strategic oil fields in Iraq. The previous regime [of Saddam Hussein] had
signed an agreement with China's National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to
exploit the field, but a number of its conditions were never fulfilled.
A source in the Oil Ministry
said that the deal is worth about $3 billion and would generate $6 billion over
the next ten years. The source went on to say that the cost to retrieve each
barrel [from the field] would be about $6. Well-informed Iraqi sources revealed
that the decision to allow China to exploit the field comes in the context of
Iranian government pressure and mediation, urging Iraq to grant oil
exploitation rights to Chinese and Russian companies and to deny U.S. companies
access to Iraqi oil and energy. Yesterday, the Iraqi government approved the
agreement that had been previously signed by the former regime but never
implemented.
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Iraq's Wasit Governorate,
near the border with Iran.
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A government spokesman said
in a statement that the council of ministers decided to approve a contract with
the Iraqi North Oil Company and the China National Petroleum Corporation, to develop
the al Ahdab field and put it into operation in accordance with conditions
agreed upon by both parties.
Recently, the Iraqi
government announced the conditions of an oil deal that it had renegotiated with
the China National Petroleum Corporation. The agreement was initially signed in
1997.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The agreement is Iraq's first
major oil contract with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's
regime. Iraq possesses the third largest confirmed reserves of oil in the
world. The China National Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of
PetroChina - the largest oil and gas company in Asia- is the first company to
enter the Iraqi oil sector at a time when foreign companies are lining up to
sign long-term oil deals with Iraq.
According to Iraqi Minister
of Oil Hussein al-Shahristani, the amended agreement stipulates that the oil
field will produce approximately 110,000 barrels of oil per day, an increase
over the previous production goal of 90,000 barrels per day.
CLICK HERE FOR ARABIC
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US September 4, 10:23pm]