Posted on 06/24/2007 5:03:31 PM PDT by DaveTesla
Baghdad has revived a contract signed by the Saddam Hussein administration allowing a state-owned Chinese oil company to develop an Iraqi oil field, the Iraqi oil minister told the Financial Times in Beijing on Friday.
Hussein al-Shahristani also said Baghdad welcomed Chinese oil company bids for any other contract in the country through a “fair and transparent bidding process” to be laid out in the new oil law under discussion in Iraq’s parliament.
China National Petroleum Corporation, the country’s largest oil company and the parent of listed group Petrochina, signed a deal with Iraq in 1997 to develop the al-Ahdab oil field. The field is one of the first to be offered to foreign investors since the 2003 US-led invasion.
Iraq has been reluctant to revive Saddam-era contracts, but seems to have turned to China as security problems and uncertainties over Iraqi investment law have deterred other investors.
The field had an estimated pre-war capacity of 90,000 barrels a day and the 1997 contract was valued at about $1.2bn (€900m, £600m). “The contract with the previous administration is still valid – it was signed and we will honour it,” Mr al-Shahristani said. “We have been talking since I visited China eight months ago and the Chinese have just submitted a revised proposal to meet the new technical requirements for oil field development laid out by the Iraqi government.”
He said there were still some technical details to work out but that the two sides would begin discussing revised commercial terms and price details “within one month”. It was too early to put a dollar value on the revised contract.
US diplomats in Beijing said they were not aware that the deal had been revived.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
We die, they buy.
So? Are the Chinese not allowed to have oil now? One would expect with more access to raw materials and an expanding economy (through trade) the Chinese will continue to accept free market aspects.
You thought we deposed Saddam to lock up Iraqi oil?
I’m irate over hearing things like this. Iraqi Parliment takes the summer off while our boys are battling in the surge, Maliki traveling to Iran and speaking with praise and gratitude of countries that are supplying the enemy (Syria and Iran) and then things like this (I’ve seen another story about deals with Russia). This is nuts.
It’s not enough that our military has to fight insurgents but then we have to worry about our efforts enriching and empowering our global enemies. We topplede one rotten Iraqi gov’t- will we have to do it again??!?!?
Yeah, me too. I thought this war was for oil. No other reason. I guess it goes to show we don’t know ... pr someone doesn’t know.
We should look closer to home for elected officials taking excessive time off. Elected officials not getting much real work done, just pet projects and legislation to get them re-elected. Raising their own pay cause they work so hard. Traitorous remarks against our military while they are engaged in a war with our enemies. Suggesting missions for our military that they are not equipped to handle ... nation building or policing nations in civil war as opposed to national defense and warfare to rid us of our enemies. Blowing smoke up our a**. We should look to Washington D.C.
This is NOT right. We need to demand that the Iraqi government stop this at once. IF they don’t, then let China go in there and fight for them.
Do you recall seeing anything about this in the PreWarDocs?
Seems self evident.
Not to worry, oil if fungible. Any new oil sources that are developed, even for a captive buyer, help to free up the same amount of oil from elsewhere that is offered on the open market.
This deal ought to prove that the US invasion was not “all about oil”, but those who wore that lame claim out are not interested in the truth, they have moved on to new, equally lame, claims.
LOL, you were saying....
The Ministry of Commerce of China released data from the first five months of 2007 showing that $25.26 billion was used in the period to support 15,072 newly established foreign investment enterprises. The dollar amount was a 10% increase over 2006, although the actual number of new ventures dropped 4%.Take out the countries that are actually domestic sources and these United States are currently 4th or 5th.During the five-month period, the top ten countries (in terms of dollar amount) making investments were: Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands, Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Singapore, the United States, the Cayman Islands, Samoa, Taiwan and Mauritius.
These 10 countries contributed 86% of all the money put into new Chinese ventures.
And of course we have Wal-Mart operating in China. I imagine they're selling 'non-military useful products', some not even made in China!!
No, you're right, the introduction of Western ideas through trade isn't working at all to move China away from communism....
First the Panama Canal, next the Oil Fields...soon our food supply. While Boosh fiddles Rome burns.
China arming terrorists
New intelligence reveals China is covertly supplying large quantities of small arms and weapons to insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban militia in Afghanistan, through Iran.
U.S. government appeals to China to check some of the arms shipments in advance were met with stonewalling by Beijing, which insisted it knew nothing about the shipments and asked for additional intelligence on the transfers. The ploy has been used in the past by China to hide its arms-proliferation activities from the United States, according to U.S. officials with access to the intelligence reports.
Some arms were sent by aircraft directly from Chinese factories to Afghanistan and included large-caliber sniper rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and components for roadside bombs, as well as other small arms.
The Washington Times reported June 5 that Chinese-made HN-5 anti-aircraft missiles were being used by the Taliban.
According to the officials, the Iranians, in buying the arms, asked Chinese state-run suppliers to expedite the transfers and to remove serial numbers to prevent tracing their origin. China, for its part, offered to transport the weapons in order to prevent the weapons from being interdicted.
The weapons were described as “late-model” arms that have not been seen in the field before and were not left over from Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq.
U.S. Army specialists suspect the weapons were transferred within the past three months.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070615/NATION04/106150051&SearchID=73285174398064
They also have a $3 billion deal with Iran, signed last year IIRC.
That’s complete bunk.
The United States has spent Billions (about 5 billoin so far) rebuilding Iraq.
And left tons of blood on the ground doing so.
I have seen some Iraqi documents that talks about trade relations with China, of course the only thing that Saddam traded with the world is OIL.
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