High price of oil... why...
"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."
Iraq fails to sign contracts with global oil majors
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080630/wl_afp/iraqoil_080630132348
Mon Jun 30, 9:23 AM ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq said on Monday it has failed to sign technical
sup****t agreements with global oil majors which were aimed at helping
boost the war-torn country's oil production.
Iraq is negotiating with Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total, and a
consortium of other smaller oil companies, Oil Minister Hussein al-
Shahristani said at press briefing.
"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 sup****t 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.
Last week, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told AFP that it would sign
the sup****t contracts on Monday and award longer term deals to 41 other
energy companies.
Iraq wants to ramp up output by 500,000 barrels per day from the current
average production of 2.5 million bpd, about equal to the amount being
pumped before the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Ex****ts of 2.11 million bpd currently form the bulk of the war-torn
nation's revenues, and the oil ministry is keen to raise capacity over
the next five years to 4.5 million bpd.
Iraq's crude reserves are estimated at about 115 billion barrels, but it
is sorely lacking in infrastructure and the latest technology to which it
was denied access under years of international sanctions after the 1991
Gulf War.
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