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Add an EventUS advisers steered Iraqi oil contracts to Western firms
The team of government lawyers and private sector consultants provided detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, the Times reported, citing a senior State Department official.
Among the other services offered by the US advisers was ensuring that the Iraqi Oil Ministry dismissed claims by the Russian oil company Lukoil based on contracts signed with the Iraqi government before the US invasion of March 2003.
The Times continued: It is unclear how much influence their work had on the ministrys decisions.
There is nothing unclear about it. The US government dictated terms that are set to bring back Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron, the very same multinational energy giants that dominated Iraqi oil production before Baghdad nationalized the sector 36 years ago. They, along with a consortium of smaller firms, have been offered no-bid contracts by the Iraqi government.
These so-called technical support agreements, worth $500 million each, represent the foot in the door for the major Western oil firms, giving them a decisive advantage over rival companies from Russia, China, India and elsewhere.
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Iraq has opened the world's third largest oil reserves to foreign firms by offering limited contracts at six fields.
The oil ministry hopes that granting multinationals technical contracts can help boost production at Iraq's under developed oil fields by providing equipment and training, while Baghdad would keep control of the profits.
The Iraqi oil ministry had been expected to announce the deals with companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and BHP Billiton on Monday.
But Hussein al-Shahristani, the oil minister, told a news conference that the deals had not yet been concluded as the companies wanted a share of the profits.
"We did not finalise any agreement with them because they refused to offer consultancy based on fees as they wanted a share of the oil," he said.
"The TSAs [technical support agreements] are only simple consultancy contracts to help us raise the production during the interim period" before the ministry enters into long-term contracts to develop the oil and gas fields.
The contracts would not allow investments by the foreign companies in the oil sector but would pave the way for global energy giants to return to Iraq, 36-years after being told to leave by Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former president.
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