Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.
The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.
The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India...
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1 comment:
This was my favorite story when I saw it in the Times for a long time.
I like how they say it's not that profitable for an oil contract - it just means the next oil contracts are easier to get - you know...the big ones.
If you're a huge mega-oil company what happens to a dream deferred?
Nothing. There's no such thing.
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