Russia’s Lukoil failed to negotiate a bypass of the auction process to lock in Saddam era perks although Lukoil did win the bid this last Saturday for the West Qurna Phase 2 field. Iraq’s West Qurna Phase 2 is like the T-bone of oil fields as far as winning bids are concerned.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry is now finished it’s second round of bids.
American based Exxon Mobil won a major bid and is now lock and load on Iraq West Qurna Phase 1 oil field. Anyone on the ‘America ain’t getting deals’ bandwagon may now officially admin they were jumping the gun.
A quarter stake in the Zubair oil field will have to do for American based Occidental, who also won a bid.
Chinese oil companies are aggressively seeking some firepower in Iraq oil deals too. There is only one thing more dangerous than owning a gun in China, loosing it.
Violence has been stronger with the coming 2010 Iraq elections and could be a deterrent for some companies. The Iraq Hydrocarbon Law once in place will help ‘Iron out the details’ that are keeping some companies at bay.
It is time to stake your claim in the Iraq investment arena if you have not already done so. The Iraqi Dinar will be going up again, how much? Who knows, but it will experience another upward spike before the Dinar revaluation. Elections in Iraq are being met with violent opposition, this happened with the last elections too.
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Written by Darren Chabluk for http://DrDinar.com
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