The long-suffering bill that would govern Iraq’s oil industry and divvy up oil wealth has been stalled more than a year, bogged down in political squabbling and symbolic of problems rippling below the surface here despite success on the security front.
Just last year, U.S. and Iraqi officials repeatedly announced that passage of the oil bill was imminent. The bill was seen as crucial to laying the groundwork for long-term security and political reconciliation in Iraq, since it would guarantee…
Iraq will sign a $1.2 billion oil service contract with China to replace a production-sharing deal agreed under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi newspaper, an-Noor said, quoting oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani.
The oil minister is travelling to China at the end of this month to discuss the deal, which was orginally signed in 1997 between Iraq and the China National Petrolium Company, Ahmed Rasheed writes for Reuters.
“We have held talks with (the Chinese) for a year, and the terms of the dea…
Iraq is likely to abandon plans to sign up to $3 billion in short-term oil contracts, a U.S. diplomat said, putting in doubt deals that would give foreign oil firms their first major foothold in the country for decades, Missy Ryan reports for Reuters.
“It appears that on present form (the Iraqi government) probably won’t proceed with most of these or all of them,” Charles Ries, coordinator for Iraq’s economic transition at the U.S. embassy, told reporters in Baghdad.
“But I think that som…
Dana Gas, the United Arab Emirates-based oil and gas company, will start natural gas production from a gas field in northern Iraq in September and is preparing to drill appraisal wells at a second field next year, a top company executive said Thursday.
The Abu Dhabi stock market-listed firm will start production of 75 million cubic feet per day of gas from the Khoomor field in the Kurdish region under an early production facility “next month,” Finance Director Neeraj Agrawal told Zawya Dow Jo…
Oil negotiations between a handful of foreign companies and the government here appear stalled, setting back once again efforts to open up Iraqi oil fields to international companies, writes Gina Chon for The Wall Street Journal.
Oil Ministry officials had said they hoped to sign contracts by the end of June. That deadline came and went without a deal. Now, talks with major oil companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp., appear to have hit new snags.
Iraq has term…
The Oil for Iraq Liberation bill, introduced by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, will prevent U.S. based oil companies from development of and investment in petroleum resources of Iraq.
“Recently we have seen evidence of a concerted effort to pressure the Iraqi government into privatizing Iraqi oil fields against the will of its citizens. We have also heard that certain high level architects of the Iraq war stand to gain financially. This bill will ensure that the Iraqi oil money stays ou…
Energy expert Luay Jawadal-Khatteeb calls Shell’s associated gas deal “unethical,” explains why Iraq needs a gas master plan that will meet domestic needs first.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq addresses the criticism he’s received for attempting to enter Iraq’s oil sector.
The former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq runs a consulting firm focused on Iraq investments and has just been named to Norwegian oil firm DNO, whose Kurdish projects have stoked controversy. He talks to Iraq Oil Report.
