Iraq To Limit No-Bid Deals With Big Oil

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

Government Says Controversial Contracts With Major Western Companies Will Be For 1 Year

(CBS/AP) The Iraqi government is planning to limit no-bid contracts being negotiated with several major oil companies to one year to avoid overlap with longer-term deals expected to be signed next June, a senior Oil Ministry official said Thursday.

The no-bid contracts have sparked controversy because several major Western firms have been involved in the discussions. There are concerns that granting such contracts to Western oil companies could feed perceptions that U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein to grab the country's natural resources.

Iraqi officials have stressed that the contracts are only for technical advice and equipment and the companies will receive money in return, not a share of oil production. They say the deals are meant as a stopgap measure to boost oil production until the government completes a bidding process next June on the development of six major oil fields and two natural gas fields.

But some believe the no-bid deals could give the Western firms a bidding advantage in that process, which Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said last month would include 35 foreign companies. The firms he named included seven from the U.S., three from Britain and others from countries like Russia and China.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/17/world/main4267541.shtml

[Arctic Dave]

1. I don't see the reason not to keep Iraqi oilfields

a national asset. There is absolutely no reason to give away its oil to foriegn companies. Any technical advice or equipment can be obtained by oilfield service companies, just like the oil companies do all over the world (national and publicly traded).
Instead, they should be signing long term sales contracts and using that money to develop the infrastructure needed to produce the oil themselves.

[meegbear]

2. Of course it will only be for one year ...

and then next year, they'll sign contracts again for one year. And so on, and so on, and so on ....

[TNOE]

3. Gee, ya think?

The no-bid contracts have sparked controversy because several major Western firms have been involved in the discussions. There are concerns that granting such contracts to Western oil companies could feed perceptions that U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein to grab the country's natural resources.

Now, why would an Oil Man President & and Oil Administration want to do something like that?

[Indenturedebtor]

4. I know it's absurd... do these people just hate America or something?

:sarcasm:

[fascisthunter]

5. We Could Have Bought the Oil Cheaper

than invade the fricking country. What a bunch of dumb assholes we have in our government.

[TNOE]

6. Exactly. IF GREED had not been the

motivating factor - we could have negotiated, paid a fair price and SHARED........ AND HELPED ONE ANOTHER. BUT..... that would have certainly be the "christian" thing and right thing to have done - but these guys wanted it ALL & it mattered not how many lies had to be told or how many were killed or wounded in the process. I'm glad the Iraqi's have been able to hold out this long. We're not the first country they've had to fight off.