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| Iraq |
| Majnoon Oil field contract was jointly won by Shell and its Malaysian partner Petronas |
| 2009-12-12 |
| Iraq struck deals with consortiums led by energy giants Shell and CNPC on massive southern oil fields on Friday, part of a two-day auction that seeks to dramatically boost the country's crude output. The successful bids from the Anglo-Dutch and Chinese giants kicked off the sale, which aims to catapult Iraq toward the top of the list of the world's oil producers and bring in much-needed revenue to rebuild the war-battered country. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki highlighted the transparency with which the auction was being conducted, contrasting it with the "darkened rooms" in which now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein made deals over oil. The contract for the enormous Majnoon field was jointly won by Shell and its Malaysian partner Petronas, while CNPC led a group comprised of Petronas and France's Total to capture Halfaya. "The second round represents a new era in the history of the Iraqi oil industry," Maliki said as he opened the auction. Referring to the transparency of the auction, he said it was "very important because many international companies are participating, in public and on television." "The old way was in darkened rooms, behind closed doors. But today, it is clear to everyone," Maliki said. Shell and Petronas requested fees of 1.39 dollars per barrel of oil extracted from Majnoon, and projected that they would produce 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd). It beat out a rival offer from Total and CNPC. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #1 No oil for blood! |
| Posted by: Grunter 2009-12-12 04:37 |