The oil-field auction doesn't go so well in Iraq . . .
Friday, July 10, 2009 at 1:22AM ARTICLE: Few Bidders to Develop Iraqi Oil and Gas Fields, By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS, New York Times, June 30, 2009
The money quote--so to speak:
Ruba Husari, editor of the Iraq Oil Forum Web site, which covers the country's oil industry, said what remained unresolved was how Iraq was to modernize its oil industry without giving in to the desires of oil companies, which prefer owning a share of the oil they pump. Iraq has so far rejected such arrangements, which are known as production sharing agreements.
Iraq wants foreign companies to come in but not to share in the production--a sort of have-its-cake-and-eat-it-too approach that doesn't jibe well with the political uncertainty, because it amounts to asking foreign companies for the necessary technology in exchange for mere fees.
The only successful bid was a joint venture by BP and Sinopec for the largest field.
A populist "win" (Yeah, we protected our national treasure!) that yields little actual spoils (But hardly anyone wants to pay us anything for it!).
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