Or perhaps it’s just that oil is at such a high price level now, partially thanks to erm the War on Iraq that the profits now outweight even the risks of working in Iraq. At any rate, the big sell-off has started:
BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.
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.
Of course the contracts on offer are still relatively small and the idea that the Iraqi fields might be the key to lowering oil prices is certainly in the short term just a fantasy. But just getting control of the oil fields is important in its own right. For the companies involved just adding more reserves to their portfolio will of course help boost stock prices, while it helps eliminate the threat of an independent Iraqi oil industry ruining things for them..