China returned to oil production in Iraq

Baghdad resumed a contract with the State Chinese oil company, signed by the administration of Saddam Hussein. This was announced in Beijing by the newspaper Financial Times, the Minister of Oil Industry Iraq Hussein al-Shakhristani ((full text on the website of Inopressa ).

In addition, the Iraqi Minister said that Baghdad would welcome China’s participation in “honest and open -offs” for the right to sign the following contracts.

The Chinese National Oil Corporation signed in 1997 a contract with Iraq to develop the Al-Ahdab field. After the 2003 invasion of this field, one of the first will be offered to foreign investors .

Before the war, the volumes of production at this field were estimated at 90 thousand barrels per day, and the amount of the 1997 contract amounted to $ 1.2 billion. “The contract with the previous administration is still valid - it is signed, and we will observe it,” Al -Shakhristani said. “We have been discussing it from the moment of my visit to China eight months ago, and the Chinese have just proposed a revised project, which took into account the new technical requirements for the development of the deposit made by the Iraqi government.”

He said that the parties would begin to discuss the commercial conditions for the resumption of the contract and the price of the transaction "within a month", and so far it is too early to talk about the price.

American diplomats in Beijing reported that they did not know about the resumption of the contract.

A breakthrough in this matter occurred in May, during a weekly visit to China, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and his meetings with his colleague Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. They signed a number of agreements that relate to oil, trade, commercial, educational and cultural cooperation.

During the visit, the Chinese side said that she would write off a “significant part” of Iraqi duty, but specific figures were not called. Before the visit, it was reported that Talabani would like to get 8 billion dollars of debt from China.

Representatives of the Chinese state oil refining company Sinochem said they did not plan to invest in Iraq, waiting for the adoption of a new Iraqi oil legislation.