Iraq Signs $3.5 Billion Deal for China to Develop Oil Field

Source: NYT

By KATHERINE ZOEPF
Published: November 11, 2008

BAGHDAD — North Oil, an Iraqi-owned company, has signed a contract with a Chinese state-owned oil corporation, CNPC, that was first negotiated during Saddam Hussein’s government, an official in Iraq’s Oil Ministry said Tuesday.

The deal is worth $3.5 billion, said the official, Ahmed al-Shamaa, the deputy oil minister. It is the first major oil-development deal that Iraq has made with a foreign company since the American-led invasion in 2003. It will allow CNPC, with Norinco, another Chinese company, to develop the Adhab oil field in Wasit Province, southeast of Baghdad, for 20 years, Mr. Shamaa said in a telephone interview. “It has been the same contract since Saddam’s regime, but we changed it from a production-sharing contract to a service contract,” Mr. Shamaa said. “The contract includes developing the field, digging wells, laying down bibs, delivering crude oil to the national grid, and natural gas processing and delivery” ...

Frank A. Verrastro, director of the energy and national security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he thought the announcement of the Chinese deal would open the door to the announcement of some of the other oil deals that Iraq has been negotiating recently.

The announcement of a Chinese deal first, rather than a deal with a major Western petroleum company like Shell or Chevron, would send a positive signal, Mr. Verrastro said ...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/world/middleeast/12crude.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

Guess the No Blood for Oil meme needs to be updated a little...

Iraq war enthusiasts announce that Iraq's oil will pay for the war and the reconstruction. Bush invades, warning Saddam not to attack the oil fields. US soldiers protect the oil fields while failing to secure other important Iraqi sites, such as the nuclear sites earlier identified by the IAEA, archaeological locations of worldwide importance, and mass burials needed for human rights and truth/reconciliation purposes. The US announces that Saddam's oil contracts with other countries will not be honored. The US floats numerous trial balloons about forming a country with the Kurdish oil field region. Oil monitoring equipment remains unrepaired while tankers filling up at Iraqi ports are charged based on crude estimates. The US repeatedly says it cannot leave Iraq until Iraq's government passes a hydrocarbon law. In September 2008, Iraq finally cancels no-bid oil contracts that the Pentagon handed Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Total, and BP. And now -- we have this cheery story about how the China deal shows Iraq oil is available to everyone

Y'know, in context, I guess that last bit of history doesn't really discredit my blood for oil view of the war

First deal, no Western company involved.

Occam's Razor.

This doesn't invalidate the idea that an oil grab was part of the motivation for the war. But it makes it harder to say it was the only motivation.

Maybe they dont appreciate being "freed" after all. Imagine that. Great job Georgie!

we f'ed up and actually gave them democracy!

A democracy that had the temerity to not vote the way we wanted!

Bush was right - a dictatorship would have been a whole lot easier.

once they use it to expel their occupiers. I wish BuchCo hadn't seen fit to kill 1 million of them
just to get where we are today.