Iraq, China Set To Revive $1.2 Billion Oil Deal

BAGHDAD — Iraq and China are set to revive a $1.2 billion oil deal that was canceled after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Iraq's oil ministry said Sunday.

An initial agreement with China is expected to be signed at the end of August to develop the billion-barrel Ahdab oil field south of Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.

"Iraq and China are keen to show their cooperation by finalizing an agreement on developing the Ahdab oil field," it said.

The announcement came after a meeting between Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani and China's ambassador to Baghdad.

No further details were released, but if the deal is signed it will be the first Saddam Hussein-era oil deal to be honored by the new Iraqi regime.

In 1997, Saddam's government signed an agreement with the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., despite United Nations sanctions that barred direct dealings with Iraq's oil industry.

The two countries restarted talks in October 2006.

The field is located near Wasit province, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, and could produce an estimated 115,000 barrels a day. Wasit has been the scene of sporadic attacks since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Iraq sits on more than 115 billion barrels of oil but decades of wars, U.N. sanctions, violence and sabotage have battered its oil industry.

As security improves, Iraq is trying to bring in foreign companies to help increase crude output from the current 2.5 million barrels a day to 3 million barrels a day by the end of 2008, and 4.5 million barrels a day by the end of 2013.

A number of companies say they signed deals with Saddam's regime and demand that those be honored, or the countries involved be given priority on new agreements.

The ministry has consistently denied giving any advantage to companies with which Saddam signed deals, instead insisting that oil and gas fields and exploration blocks will be offered up for bids.

Comments

[mosh]

All this talk of oil and loyalty. I thought this war wasn't about oil, I thought it was about WMD. And then, when it wasn't about oil or WMD I thought it was about spreading democracy. And now that Iraq is a 'democracy' don't they have a sovereign right to contract with whomever they please?

We invaded Iraq because we wanted to get our hands on Iraqi oil. These posts prove what the administration has denied all these many years - Our sons and daughters, our uncles and Aunts, our cousins and brothers, our sisters and husbands, our wives and our neighbors - they all died so that bush and company could get their greedy little hands on the oil in Iraq. Operation Iraqi Liberation was the original name of this fiasco but the acronym was too close to the truth so they changed it from OIL to OIF. But that didn't change the real agenda behind the mission.

And, you know what, finally, ultimately, this administration even failed at that - getting its greedy paws on Iraqi oil.

[TrevorAlan]

So our people are killed, our country goes into a death-spiral debt, while Iraq uses financial aid we gave them to make a profit selling oil to the counrty who profits from buying our debt.

I actually can't blame either of those countries, they are using the rules of the capitalism we have been pushing. But I can be mad that OUR government set us up to be the triple-loosing party on that deal.

[mosh]

A majority of Iraqi citizens see as a occupiers not liberators and they want us out, period.

They didn't ask for our 'invasion' they didn't ask to be 'shocked and awed' they didn't ask for 10 years of sanctions and they didn't ask for war. But we gave it all to them anyway under the false pretense of looking for WMD that didn't exist.

Over one million Iraqis have been displaced with hundreds of thousands dead and even more wounded. Why ask now what they owe us? We, the imperialists, will be forever in their debt - for destruction that can never ever be quantified.

[fillou]

Breaking news : thanks to G. Bu.sh and the Neocons, Vaseline is on backorder in the Usa.
4.000 american soldiers gave their life to get oil from Iraq to be sent to China. How many Chinese soldiers in Iraq ? NONE and yet they get the oil, aren't they genius ?
This is very patriotic of Bush, Bu.sh is the best philantrhopist that China could have dreamt of.

[mosh]

I thought we went to Iraq to stop the production of WMD. What's all this about US soldiers dying for oil??

[Viper]

Not a single Troll was able to spin this!

Regards

[KillTheMessenger]

What's there to spin? The US consumes 20 million barrels a day. At current market prices that's worth some $2.3 billion. So we are using about twice as much oil a day as this deal is worth in total.

Who in their right mind would waste any time on trying to spin this? It is simply not important. At least not to the folks who have a grip on numbers.

[cunuck]

The 1.2 billion is only development costs for the BILLION BARREL oil field and it's only the beginning.

[mosh]

huh?

[jamaica4obama]

George Bush and his neocon cronies should have at least tried to understand the Arab culture ..Arabs are shrewd business people ...alliance are almost always of convenience..and this is just for starters

[sher2x4]

This is far worse than anything we could have imagined.

[KillTheMessenger]

Until you realize that this deal is made with Chinese chump change.

[Podewumun]

Anybody know how to say "Americans are suckers" in Chinese?

[Amunaka]

美�"�人�"�吮吸�.......

[mosh]

George W Bush

[elcojonu]

Quietly, patiently, in the Chinese way.
They will not be deterred.

[KillTheMessenger]

Deterred from what? Using money the same way as the US? To buy stuff in the world markets?

[mosh]

Yes, I don't see understand all the outrage about this post. This is capitalism in action. Imperialism and capitalism do not necessary coincide.

[Oldbuck]

Will I guess China does really own us since we are there protecting their oil fields. What next makes you wonder how we can screw up any worse?

[mosh]

Iraq's oil fields. We are there protecting Iraq's oil fields.

[americaforme]

It appears to be that no country has any loyalites, sad that we are all, like chickens in the barn yard, running in every direction...Quite frankly I see no game plan... The desired goal got lost in the chase. But you can bet your bottom dollar the Dragon comes out ahead.

[elcojonu]

Confucious said..............yours !
Lao said..............suck !
Mao said.........you !

[mosh]

First Gulf War - we don't take Baghdad but bomb the hell out of Iraq before we leave - destroying infrastructure that civilians rely on to live - electricity grids and water sanitation systems.

10 years of sanctions lead to countless deaths, why? Because we don't allow Iraq to import the means necessary to repair the damage to those infrastructures. The result: hundreds of thousands of innocent children die due to malnutrition and dysentery.

Shock and Awe - we invade Iraq on the pretext that Saddam has WMD. We bomb the hell out of the country - again there are hundreds of thousands of casualties and over a million Iraqis are displaced.

Occupation - the US led occupation of Iraq unleashes a civil war again leading to hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties and even more wounded. The infrastructure is in a shambles. Refugees swell Iraq' s borders.

So, gee, I wonder why Iraq doesn't feel particularly loyal to the US?

[Destin]

So, what's Big Bad Bush gonna do about that now? Is that the reason him and Poppy went to China for the Olympics?? To make sure China's butt was thoroughly massaged and kissed??

[getoffmedz]

bingo

[mosh]

He went there to oogle the swimmers and volley ballers while every day American troops give up their lives, their limbs, their faces, their brains for his little fiasco. Bush's war for daddy and oil.

Bush smiles and mugs for the camera while dozens of people are blown to smithereens everyday in Iraq thanks to him. But he's still having the time of his little ugly life. What a guy.

[ibsteve2u]

The sad thing is there are more than a few voters who have convinced themselves that anything that Bush, Cheney, & PNAC, LLP did or do was and is justified by the benefit to America's future energy security.

I wonder how they will twist this information to fit their worldview?

[okayigive]

This is totally ridiculous. First offers are going to Germany for reconstruction and now Irag is seeking China for oil deal. The American public has been totally shafted and to think Mcc keeps telling us to wait while we continue to go into debt. Is this the foreign policy he's espousing, we make Iraq safe for others to come in and reap the benefits?

[Nyland8]

"BAGHDAD " Iraq and China are set to revive a $1.2 billion oil deal that was canceled after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Iraq's oil ministry said Sunday."

Ruh row !!!

8

[JoeBlough]

As I understand it, the entire war has been funded by loans from China. So I guess the USA was highered by China to tear down Iraq, so China could sweep in and grab the oil. It never occurred to be that all of this was simply China out-sourcing the dirty work. Very Clever!

[Podewumun]

You nailed it, Joe!

[mosh]

But we are winning the war in Iraq!