免费日韩片_欧美成人精品一区二区男人小说_国产乱码一区二区三区四区_国产精品国产三级国产aⅴ入口_成人看的污污超级黄网站免费_欧美一级在线免费观看_成人午夜免费无码福利片_国产乱人伦偷精品视频色欲_aaa少妇高潮大片免费看_国产精品1234_亚洲精品国产suv一区88_中文字字幕在线中文无码_精品亚洲区_午夜九九九_国产av国片精品jk制服丝袜_色综合亚洲_亚洲成av人片无码bt种子下载_欧美色就色_精品少妇的一区二区三区四区_男人用嘴添女人下身免费视频

National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

Iraq approves $3b oil deal with China

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-03 10:09

BAGHDAD - Iraq on Tuesday cleared a plan to develop an oil field by China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) at a service fee of US$6 a barrel.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said the cabinet had approved the three-billion-dollar deal that will see China's State-owned company developing the Al-Ahdab oil field in the central Shiite province of Wasit.

Workers man a drill at an exploration site in the Longgang gas field in Lishan, in southwest China's Sichuan province. Iraq has cleared a plan to develop an oil field by China Petroleum National Corp. at a service fee of six dollars a barrel, giving Beijing a foothold into the world's third largest oil reserves. [Agencies]

"The Chinese company will charge US$6 per barrel of production as service fees which would decrease gradually to US$3," Shahristani told reporters inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

He said the plan is to produce 25,000 barrels of oil per day in the first three years.

An Iraqi oil ministry official last month said that the oil field would become fully operational in three years' time and is likely to produce oil for 20 years after that.

The present agreement revives a 1997 contract that granted CNPC exploration rights to the Al-Ahdab oil field in a deal then worth US$700 million over 23 years.

However, activities were suspended due to UN sanctions and security issues following the US-led war in 2003 that toppled Saddam.

Shahristani said Baghdad had successfully managed to change the previous joint venture contract into a mere service agreement.

One reason Baghdad is yet to strike a joint venture deal with any foreign oil producer is its failure to pass the national law which has been pending in parliament since early last year.

The oil law formulates the distribution of the oil revenues among the country's 18 provinces but has sparked sharp divisions from the leaders of the rival Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities.

Shahristani said the deal with CNPC is expected to generate employment for Iraqis.

"We have put in a condition that Iraqi workers should be employed and trained" by CNPC, he said.

Related readings:  Iraq opens 6 oil fields for firms bidding  Iraq qualifies 4 Chinese firms for oil contracts  US says Iraq spends little oil cash

The former nuclear scientist turned minister said the oil produced at Al-Ahdab will be used for generating power in the Zubeidiyah power station which is being set up by China, also in Wasit.

The Al-Ahdab oil contract is not expected to generate any revenues for China except the service fees.

At the end of June, Iraq's oil ministry threw open six oilfields and two gas fields for international bidding by 41 companies.

The deals, which are also service contracts, pave the way for energy firms based abroad to return to Iraq 36 years after Saddam threw them out.

Iraq wants to ramp up output by 500,000 bpd from the current average production of 2.5 million bpd, about equal to the amount being pumped before the US-led invasion of March 2003.