Iraq to pay oil firms to boost its output

[tpsbmam]

Source: Guardian UK/Reuters

BAGHDAD, March 19 (Reuters) - The Iraqi government is expected to pay up to $2.5 billion to five top oil companies to increase the country's oil output by nearly a quarter, a government adviser told Reuters on Wednesday.
In what would be the biggest foreign involvement for decades, Baghdad is close to signing technical support contracts with BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Total.

Thamir Ghadhban, energy adviser to Iraq's prime minister, said he expected the contracts, which would add 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to current production of 2.27 million bpd, would be signed by early next month.

"There is a rough estimate that it could cost about $400 to $500 million per field," he said in an interview.
"So a total could be up to between $2 (billion) and $2.5 billion over two years that should be paid by the government to companies."

With oil prices at around $100 a barrel, the contracts could mean extra revenues to Iraq of around $1.5 billion a month before costs, according to Reuters calculations.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7397775

[bdamomma]

1. oh I bet Cheney is over himself on this.

[Solly Mack]

2. Damn

[Summer93]

3. Iraq oil

I thought that Ch* was there to get a bargain price on those barrels of oil - say $3/p. I see now it was a different bargain.

[go west young man]

4. At last we see the real reason for the war!

I bet all those dead Iraq women and children are happy to be liberated while the oil companies steal the resources of their homeland.

[boilinmad]

5. Bingo!!!....

...MISSION FUCKING ACCOMPLISHED!!! Yes Mr. Cheney, the war IS going well, JUST THE WAY YOU WANTED IT TO !!

[Vilis Veritas]

6. This has always been a war for oil.

PERIOD.

Extraction contracts are awarded next. Expect the same shortlist that just won the technical support. I could be wrong...

[tpsbmam]

7. Link to a more comprehensive Financial Times analysis, same topic

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5b24f674-f5e6-11dc-8d3d-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Forbidden fields: Oil groups circle the prize of Iraq’s vast reserves

Shell is one of several inter national oil companies – including BP and the US groups ExxonMobil and Chevron – that have been tapping into Iraq’s oil industry by remote control.

But now, five years after the invasion, the oil groups are hoping to take their involvement in the country to a new level. Baghdad, desperate to increase oil production yet starved of investment, is starting to dangle what the companies have been after all along: a chance to develop and later explore what may be the world’s most promising untapped oil reserves. Indeed, as the companies gear up for technical support agreements, they are also registering to pre-qualify for the first bidding round of oil development contracts that are to be offered by Baghdad.

“The were done to work with the Iraqis, get a feeling for fields and build relationships and knowledge,” says one oil executive, speaking of the assistance projects provided so far.

[tpsbmam]

8. Link to a more comprehensive Financial Times analysis, same topic

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5b24f674-f5e6-11dc-8d3d-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

[redqueen]

9. Mission accomplished. (nt)

[Supersedeas]

10. oh, to see the look on their faces when the Invoices are translated