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| Subject: Iraq possesses the world's second-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia. | |
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Author: US, Britain Firms Could Share Iraqi Oil |
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Date Posted: 15:42:41 02/10/03 Mon geoffo (ID#: 41968) let's oil be friends 11/2/03 10:22:56 AM 6023195 « Previous Message Next Message » " US, Britain Firms Could Share Iraqi Oil BAGHDAD (Agence France Presse) - Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mahdi Saleh told Russian reporters that Baghdad would allow US and British companies onto its oil market if war is avoided, ITAR-TASS reported. Saleh told ITAR-TASS that Iraq "does not support any ties (in the oil industry) with either Washington or London. "But if they end their hostile attitude toward Iraq, then there will be no obstacles for us resuming normal relations with them," the minister told the press conference in Baghdad. Trade relations between Iraq and the West must be based "on mutual respect," Saleh said Monday. "If that happens, the situation around Iraq will change dramatically," he added. Iraq possesses the world's second-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia. US Secretary of State Colin Powell has dismissed speculation that Washington is bent on controlling Iraq's oil reserves, saying the oil would be held in a trust for the Iraqi people if the United States attacks Iraq. The French trade publication Petrostrategies reported in an issue due on news-stands Monday that the US administration was currently divided over how to manage Iraq's oil sector should Iraqi President Saddam Hussein be overthrown. The US State Department would reportedly prefer the Iraqi oil industry to remain public. But the Pentagon, backed by the White House, has argued that the United States must adopt a more hands-on approach to controlling the Iraqi oil and energy industry by supervising its privatization, Petrostrategies said. "Under this approach, US companies would dominate the privatization process, leaving 'consolation prizes to the Russians, a respectable portion to the British and, if possible, nothing else to European firms," the magazine said. Russia for its part has massive oil investments in Iraq that have been all but frozen because of tough UN sanctions, but which it fears losing to Western firms in case the regime of Saddam -- which has guaranteed these investments -- is toppled. Moscow's second fear is that Western control of Iraqi oil fields will lead to a flooding of the global crude market and a drastic drop in prices on a commodity that accounts for most Russian export revenues. But Russia's oil relations with Iraq were strained in recent months by reports that number one Russian oil producer LUKoil had established contact with opposition figures as well as US officials in a bid to secure its investments in case Saddam falls. LUKoil's contracts are now up in the air following an announcement by Baghdad that it had voided its relation with the company and LUKoil's declaration shortly thereafter that the dispute had been resolved. Amid that maneuvering, Iraqi officials have made a more public attempt to link up their economic ties with Russia, declaring that the two sides were on the verge of signing a cooperation agreement worth some 40 billion dollars (37.0 billion euros). Western economist have dismissed the figure as far-fetched, and Russian officials -- eyeing sensitivity to the issue from Washington -- deny that such agreement was in the works. But Saleh reportedly again raised the prospects in Baghdad, saying that Iraq "was willing to sign a cooperation program with Russia at any moment convenient to Moscow," ITAR-TASS reported Monday. "This program, planned to run over a 10-year span and involving contracts worth 40 billion dollars, was to have been signed back in 2001," the Iraqi minister said. "The Russian side had expressed its desire to sign the agreement," he said. "So the program is already prepared, and waiting for signature." © 2003 Agence France Presse." « Previous Message Next Message » This message has been viewed 9 times Report a BullBoards Violation Ignore geoffo Post Reply View Threads [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |