China to get Iraq's first billion plus dollar oil deal

[ECH1969]

China and Iraq are reviving a $1.2 billion deal signed by Beijing and Saddam Hussein's government in 1997 to develop an Iraqi oil field, Baghdad's oil minister said Saturday.

Officials will meet next month to renegotiate the agreement over the al-Ahdab field, said Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani. He was wrapping up a three-nation tour to secure investment for Iraq's oil industry.

"If agreement is reached very quickly then I expect them to start working right away," al-Shahristani said at a news conference. China is the world's second-largest oil consumer and has been investing heavily in trying to secure access to foreign supplies.

State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. signed the al-Ahdab deal in the midst of U.N. sanctions that barred direct dealings with Iraq's oil industry. Beijing was waiting for sanctions to end when the U.S. invasion in 2003 overthrew Saddam's government.

http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/10/28/ap/business...
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The Neocons must be happy with this. ha.

[stepnw1f]

1. Yeah... Because Now China Has a Vested Interest in Iraq (nt)

[ECH1969]

2. BTTT

[kimmerspixelated]

3. Well, the blood and oil soaked Bushits, must be furious!!!

[madrchsod]

4. the french and russians also have deals waiting

and most of the fields were built with german,french,and russian machinery. there are fields that haven`t been fully explored yet, so there is really no reliable figures on just how much oil is there.this makes the saudi`s very nervous because with the up coming iraq-iran alliance the saudi`s will no longer set the standard