Rice: US government not involved in Iraq no-bid oil contracts

maddezmom

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Thu Jun-19-08 09:44 AM
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Rice: US government not involved in Iraq no-bid oil contracts

Edited on Thu Jun-19-08 09:59 AM by maddezmom

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday the US government was not involved in Iraq's no-bid oil contracts that could see four major western oil firms start their first commercial work there since the war began five years ago.

"The United States government has stayed out of the matter of awarding the Iraq oil contracts. It's a private sector matter," Rice said in an interview on Fox news network.

But she did stress that the likely awarding of contracts "demonstrates that it's starting to get interesting in Iraq and recognizes the potential for Iraq to become an even more major oil supplier."

Earlier this month Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani was cited as saying his country intended to sign technical support agreements with foreign oil majors including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and Total by the end of June that would help boost output capacity by 500,000 barrels per day.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080619/pl_afp/usiraqoil_080619125446

Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back

~snip~

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production.

There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq�s Oil Ministry.

Sensitive to the appearance that they were profiting from the war and already under pressure because of record high oil prices, senior officials of two of the companies, speaking only on the condition that they not be identified, said they were helping Iraq rebuild its decrepit oil industry.

more:http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080619/1194786586165.html?.v=7

Oil Politics, At Home and Abroad (In Iraq)
Thursday June 19, 2008

Although a Bush Administration orchestrated and Congressionally-endorsed hydrocarbon law remains stalled in the Iraq Parliament, western oil firms are poised to strike no-bid contracts this month that let them return to Iraq after almost 40 years.
According to the NY Times, "Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP -- the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company -- along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies" expect to sign contracts with the Iraqi Oil Ministry by 30 June. Americans remain in advisory roles at the Ministry; their role in the contracts is unknown.

more:http://uspolitics.about.com/b/2008/06/19/oil-politics-at-home-and-abroad-in-iraq.htm