AS WE PULL BACK FROM IRAQ
"... As we pull back... more than six years after the US invasion, Iraq is shattered. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead -- far more, incidentally, than even the largest estimates of the number of Iraqis who died during 35 years of Saddam Hussein's rule -- its social fabric is utterly destroyed, its economy is in ruins, and its dominant political faction is in hock to neighboring Iran.... Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki... is taking on the trappings of a dictator... and has close ties to Iran..."
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/447282/little_to_celebrate_in_iraq
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
OIL COMPANIES STILL TRYING TO GET PSA PRODUCTION SHARING AGREEMENTS
"... major companies - including Exxon, Shell, BP and Total - will gather at Iraq's oil ministry in Baghdad for a two-day meeting to take part in the first bidding round for oil service contracts. However, what the oil companies will be entitled to if they secure a contract has become one of the most controversial elements of the bidding process.
The companies want a long-term share of the oil they produce under a Production Sharing Agreement, which allows them to book reserves in advance and tell the market exactly how much oil they expect to produce.
This is exactly the type of contract that Iraqis in the oil industry are opposed to. They argue oil companies should be awarded Technical Service Agreements, meaning they will be paid solely to develop Iraq's oil fields..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/06/20096288505111580.html
"... major companies - including Exxon, Shell, BP and Total - will gather at Iraq's oil ministry in Baghdad for a two-day meeting to take part in the first bidding round for oil service contracts. However, what the oil companies will be entitled to if they secure a contract has become one of the most controversial elements of the bidding process.
The companies want a long-term share of the oil they produce under a Production Sharing Agreement, which allows them to book reserves in advance and tell the market exactly how much oil they expect to produce.
This is exactly the type of contract that Iraqis in the oil industry are opposed to. They argue oil companies should be awarded Technical Service Agreements, meaning they will be paid solely to develop Iraq's oil fields..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/06/20096288505111580.html
Sunday, June 07, 2009
IRAQ TO ANNOUNCE OIL CONTRACTS
Based on fees for service, not production sharing agreements (PSA)
"Iraq will at the end of June announce which major foreign oil companies have been awarded new contracts to work in the country... The deals will be service agreements in which successful bidders are paid a fee by Baghdad and not production sharing contracts where profits are shared... The decision by Baghdad to award only service contracts to foreign companies differs from the country's autonomous Kurdish region, where numerous profit-sharing deals have been struck...."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090607/bs_afp/iraqoilcompanies
Based on fees for service, not production sharing agreements (PSA)
"Iraq will at the end of June announce which major foreign oil companies have been awarded new contracts to work in the country... The deals will be service agreements in which successful bidders are paid a fee by Baghdad and not production sharing contracts where profits are shared... The decision by Baghdad to award only service contracts to foreign companies differs from the country's autonomous Kurdish region, where numerous profit-sharing deals have been struck...."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090607/bs_afp/iraqoilcompanies