The Iraqis aren't stupid about this and said no.
Profit sharing is what the big oil companies demanded in the Hydrocarbon Law too, but the Iraqis are unlikely to ratify it with that in, given their hard line here.
It would be ironic if after a three trillion dollar war, over four thousand US soldiers dead, and over a million Iraqis dead, the oil companies got the same deal they would likely have gotten before the war.
Ironically, it is likely that the Iraqis are more eager to ramp up production than the major big oil companies. Before the war, Oil & Gas Journal said they were concerned that once the sanctions came off Iraq, they would pump too much and drive prices down. They would probably prefer to be in the driver's seat so they could set the pace to pad their profits rather than help out the Iraqis--or us.
KEY EXCERPTS:
Monday, June 30, 2008
Iraq offers oil contracts
Hussein al-Shahristani, the oil minister, told a news conference that the deals had not yet been concluded as the companies wanted a share of the profits.
"We did not finalise any agreement with them because they refused to offer consultancy based on fees as they wanted a share of the oil," he said.
Shahristani stressed that Iraq needed the services of experienced companies to realise the potential of its reserves but added that it was not ready to do so at any price.
"It is not possible for Iraq which has large oil reserves to stay at the current level of production. Iraq should be the second or the third source of oil exportation," the minister said.
"We went to these global companies and asked them to offer us consultancy but they will have no privileges or will not get a share of oil."
FULL TEXT
OIL THEFT MOTIVE FOR IRAQ WAR resources
UPDATE: Greg Muttitt at Hands Off Iraqi Oil has a less optimistic and more knowledge opinion of the current contract negotiations.
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