Reply #36: Those little rectangles on the map predate Bush I.

[gbwarming]

They are an _Iraqi_ designation called Western Desert Lease blocks.

The PSC talks go back to '95 when the UN oil for food program allowed some development and Iraq outlined its plans to offer certain areas for exploration and development.

I expect there are plenty of smoking guns in the unreleased energy papers. These just aren't them.
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http://www.converger.com/eiacab/contents.htm

As of June 1997, there reportedly were almost 60 foreign oil companies from a wide variety of countries that were in discussions with the Iraqi government (see table at the end of this report). U.S. firms which have held talks on Iraqi field development include: Amoco, Arco, Chevron, Coastal, Conoco, Exxon, Mobil, Occidental, and Texaco. Iraq plans to offer new fields to foreign oil companies through production sharing contracts (PSC), joint ventures, and service contracts. Initially, Iraq plans to offer up to 25 new fields to foreign companies. Ten of these fields, with a production potential of 2.7 MMBD, are slated for development under PSCs with foreign companies. Four of these fields are located in southern Iraq and, with a combined production potential of 2.1 MMBD, represent the cornerstone of Iraq's post-sanction development plans. These four "giant" southern fields are Majnoon, West Qurna, Nahr Umar, and Halfaya.


As of June 1997, Iraq had signed PSCs (reportedly on relatively generous terms) for two post-sanction field developments. The first agreement is with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Chinese state-owned Norinco for development of the al-Ahdab field. Al-Ahdab is located about 40 miles south of al-Kut in central Iraq. The field contains an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of oil and has a production potential of roughly 90,000 bbl/d. CNPC and Norinco reportedly have formed a new company, named al-Waha, to undertake the field development. Development and operating costs are expected to be around $1.3 billion.

In March 1997, Iraq signed a PSC with a consortium of Russian firms for second-phase development of the 15 billion barrel West Qurna field, located west of Basra near the Rumaila field. The Russian consortium comprises Lukoil (52.5%), Zarubazhneft (11.25%), Machinoimport (11.25%), and an Iraqi company that will be selected by the government (25%). The West Qurna PSC will include development of the Yamamah and deeper Mishrif reservoirs, which combined, contain close to 8 billion barrels of light (37o API) and heavy (27o API ) crude oil. West Qurna has production potential of 500,000-750,000 bbl/d, two-thirds of which will be heavier Mishrif crude. Lukoil reportedly had been in discussions concerning the West Qurna project since early 1994. At present, most of the required production wells have been drilled, although a crude pipeline spur and associated gas processing stations are only partially completed. Completion of first phase development could take up to a year, but it is unclear exactly how much surface work remains and whether this is included in the recent PSC, which is valued at $3.7 billion.