Shell Considering Oil Projects in Iraq

Neftegaz ^ | November 25, 2008 | Staff

[St. Louis Conservative]

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company, is examining possible oilfield projects in Iraq as the nation prepares to issue exploration permits next year, Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer said today.

Shell may bid for Iraqi fields in the first half of 2009, van der Veer told reporters at a conference in London. Iraq expects to award contracts by June in its first oil-licensing round since the U.S. invasion in 2003, Oil Minister Hussain al- Shahristani said last month.

"They've just issued the rules on how to bid,'' van der Veer said. "It's quite complicated; we will study that and of course then we'll make up our mind on what we are going to do.''

Iraq, holder of the world's third-biggest crude reserves, pre-qualified 41 companies including Exxon Mobil Corp, Shell and BP Plc to participate in the licensing round. The Hague-based Shell also plans to invest "north of'' $1 billion on gas- capturing and marketing projects in Iraq, van der Veer said.

[marron]

They could be drilling here if we want them to.

As it is, we’d rather give our money to the sheiks and the caudillos.

As an aside, Shell has agreed to invest 20 billion in Jordan developing their oil shale. Meanwhile they sit on oil shale deposits in the US that they can’t develop. The politicians passed a moratorium on oil shale. Oh, good.

I’ve got an idea, lets pass a windfall profits tax on them, so they’ll do their drilling abroad instead of here.