Minister authorized to sign oil deals with foreign majors
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09 March 2008 (Azzaman)
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The government has authorized Oil Minister Husain al-Shahristani to go ahead and sign deals with foreign firms as the parliament haggles over the draft oil law.
Assem Jihad, the ministry’s spokesman, said the cabinet in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki asked Shahristani not to wait any more for the legislature to approve the law before signing such deals.
The ministry says it is negotiating five contracts to develop five producing fields.
Without foreign held and investment it will be hard for the ministry to increase current output levels which are still below pre-war rates, ministry officials say.
Previously, the government had said no contracts would be signed with foreign majors unless the parliament passes the oil law.
With oil prices soaring and Iraq’s oil production capacity in certain fields shrinking, the hard cash-strapped government could no longer wait.
Iraqi Kurds have already signed several deals to develop oil fields within their semi-independent enclave in northern Iraq. Shahristani has repeatedly criticized their leaders for striking the deals before the passage of the oil law by the parliament.
The ministry says it plans to boost production to 3 million barrels a day in 2008 and 4.5 million by 2013.
