Oil 25

US Marines moved quickly to protect the Iraqi oil ministry in Baghdad, surrounding the complex with razor-sharp barbed wire. US-controlled Iraq should return to the oil market within months. (AFP/EPA/Christophe Simon)

Weet u nog, hier ging die invasie in Irak over, de westerse commerciele massamedia zwijgen er verder over, maar dat maakt het niet minder waar.

'Iraqi cabinet OKs deals with oil giants
Iraqi Cabinet Gives Green Light to Oil Ministry to Sign Deals With
Oil Giants
SINAN SALAHEDDIN
AP News
Mar 05, 2008 06:44 EST
Iraq's cabinet has given the green light to the Oil Ministry to sign
agreements with international oil companies to help increase the
nation's crude output, a ministry official said Wednesday.

The two-year deals, known as technical support agreements, or TSAs,
are designed to develop five producing fields to add 500,000 barrels
per day to the country's 2.4 million barrels per day output.

Last December, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, ExxonMobil Corp. and
Chevron Corp. submitted technical and financial proposals for the
five fields and received counterproposals from the Iraqi side.

In January, representatives from the companies and Iraq met again in
Amman, Jordan, and they will hold a third round of discussions later
this month, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to release information.

In Vienna, Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said Iraq
intends to compensate these companies with crude oil rather than in
cash, the Dow Jones Newswires reported Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived for a meeting of the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries, al-Shahristani said the Oil
Ministry was still working on the compensation details with the
Development Fund of Iraq, which is controlled by the United States
and the United Nations.

Iraq's average production was 2.4 million barrels per day in January
while exports stood at an average of 1.92 million barrels per day.
December's exports averaged 1.81 million barrels per day.

The oil giants are among more than 70 international firms that met
the ministry's deadline of Feb. 18 to compete to help develop Iraq's
oil reserves, seen as vital to providing the funds to rebuild the
shattered country.'

Lees verder: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=72288