Azzaman, Iraq

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)

Should Americans expect access for U.S. petroleum firms to Iraq's oil fields? It seems that Iran has persuaded its counterparts in Iraq to shut U.S. firms out of one of Iraq's largest known oil fields in favor of a Chinese state firm.

 

BBC NEWS VIDEO: U.S. hands Al-Anbar Governorate over to Iraqi security forces, Sept. 1, 00:02:02 RealVideo

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.

 

Iraq's Wasit Governorate, near the border with Iran.

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]