BAGHDAD — More than three decades after they were booted from the country by Saddam Hussein, international oil companies are poised for a return to Iraq, where next week they will bid for a slice of the country’s vast crude reserves.
Iraq needs the expertise of internationals that can develop its dilapidated oil and gas industry. The country lacks the oil revenues needed for reconstruction after a U.S.-led war.
Yet a constitutional fight pitting Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani against the parliament and the semiautonomous Kurdish government threatens to undercut the bidding process.
Discord over the two days of bidding scheduled to begin Monday lies in a struggle between Iraq’s various religious and ethnic factions over control of one of the world’s largest proved reserves of oil — an estimated 115 billion barrels. And the debate in Baghdad is tinged with a troubled past that includes some of same international companies now back at the table.
Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Repsol, the China National Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and Russia’s Lukoil and other approved companies, have been asked to put up a total of $2.6 billion for what the ministry calls "soft loans.”
In return, they will have the right to develop Iraq’s main oil fields, which could net the companies a total of $16 billion. The companies also must shoulder the costs of creating a national oil and gas joint-venture.
In return, Iraq has offered limited access, through the service contracts, to its oil fields that hold 43 billion barrels of reserves. But the contracts provide little in the way of security, physically or contractually, to big oil companies.
by the associated press
AdBrite
AdBrite
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Executive Web Pros trying to HELP IRAQ
BAGHDAD — "Breakfast time … Lots of helicopters … Met the president of Iraq … Amazing palace.”
Tweet by tweet, the trip to Baghdad by Jack Dorsey unfolded on the Twitter network he co-founded.
One of his stops Wednesday: A discussion at the U.S. Embassy with executives from other Web powerhouses such as YouTube and Google on the possible high-tech horizons in a place that can’t guarantee round-the-clock electricity.
Their trip to Baghdad, sponsored by the State Department, was billed as a way to assess the faint stirrings of Iraq’s online culture and possibly inspire Iraqi Web entrepreneurs.
"There’s no question that there are a lot of challenges here … but there are also a lot of opportunities,” Jason Liebman, chief executive officer of the how-to video site Howcast, said during a news conference at the U.S. Embassy.
Also on the trip were executives from AT&T, the networking site Meetup and Blue State Digital, which had a role in the online outreach of then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
It’s estimated just 5 percent of Iraqis have Web access at home and the connection speed can harken back to the dial-up days of the 1980s. Users can get faster connections at Internet cafes and the Web access on cell phones.
Zain, an Iraqi mobile phone provider, has 700,000 subscribers with Internet-capable cell phones, executives said.
This was the avenue the executives found most promising for Iraqis to someday embrace social networking: through their beloved mobile phones.
Dorsey said the executives want to figure out "how technologies like the ones that we work with may help the situation here and may help things move a little bit faster.”
In one of his tweets, Dorsey wrote: "Talking to Iraqis to figure out if technologies like Twitter can help bring transparency, accessibility and stability to the area.”
by the associated press
Tweet by tweet, the trip to Baghdad by Jack Dorsey unfolded on the Twitter network he co-founded.
One of his stops Wednesday: A discussion at the U.S. Embassy with executives from other Web powerhouses such as YouTube and Google on the possible high-tech horizons in a place that can’t guarantee round-the-clock electricity.
Their trip to Baghdad, sponsored by the State Department, was billed as a way to assess the faint stirrings of Iraq’s online culture and possibly inspire Iraqi Web entrepreneurs.
"There’s no question that there are a lot of challenges here … but there are also a lot of opportunities,” Jason Liebman, chief executive officer of the how-to video site Howcast, said during a news conference at the U.S. Embassy.
Also on the trip were executives from AT&T, the networking site Meetup and Blue State Digital, which had a role in the online outreach of then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
It’s estimated just 5 percent of Iraqis have Web access at home and the connection speed can harken back to the dial-up days of the 1980s. Users can get faster connections at Internet cafes and the Web access on cell phones.
Zain, an Iraqi mobile phone provider, has 700,000 subscribers with Internet-capable cell phones, executives said.
This was the avenue the executives found most promising for Iraqis to someday embrace social networking: through their beloved mobile phones.
Dorsey said the executives want to figure out "how technologies like the ones that we work with may help the situation here and may help things move a little bit faster.”
In one of his tweets, Dorsey wrote: "Talking to Iraqis to figure out if technologies like Twitter can help bring transparency, accessibility and stability to the area.”
by the associated press
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)