Iraq–China oil deal made final next week

An Iraqi oil ministry spokesman says Iraq and China will finalize a US$3 billion oil agreement next week. Assem Jihad says a Chinese delegation will visit Baghdad to sign the deal, The Associated Press reports.

The contract to develop the Ahdab field in southern Iraq is one of four Saddam-era contracts that the Oil Ministry has said it will uphold but renegotiate the terms per the new government’s oil prerogatives, as United Press International’s Ben Lando has reported.