Iraq Oil Ministry: waiting for Big Oil for oil development, but not past June…

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani said Tuesday the country will likely drop oil service contracts with foreign companies if they don't have their proposals finalized by a June deadline and will move forward with the work on its own, Dow Jones Newswires reports. "June is already a bit late... We may drop them if they aren't signed soon ( after June)," Shahristani told journalists here after an industry conference. He didn't specify whether he was referring to all contracts or those targeting specific fields that individual companies are vying for.

Kuwait has agreed to review the question of reducing Iraq's compensation payments imposed after the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Tuesday, Ulf Laessing and Rania El Gamal report for Reuters. But Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Salem Al-Sabah said any change in the compensation regime must be decided by the U.N. Security Council in New York.