Tuesday, September 14th 2010
Oil minister: US has had no role in Iraq oil policy
Baghdad, Sept. 14 (AKnews) - Iraq’s oil minister says the United States has not intervened in awarding and implementing Iraq’s oil projects and has only had an “advisory” role so far.
The remarks by Hussein al-Shahristani came in response to critics who charge the control of Iraq’s oil resources was a major motive behind the invasion of Iraq by the superpower in 2003.
Speaking to AKnews, Shahristani said, “The U.S. has had no role in devising Iraq’s oil policy because the Iraqi government has relied on professionalism.”
“Iraq’s oil should be protected from political interventions from any side even the U.S. that has brought about political change in Iraq.”
Shahristani cited as proof of U.S. non-interference the fact that no American companies were awarded a contract during the two oil bidding sessions that the Iraqi government held.
Iraq signed a number of contracts in 2008 and 2009 with international oil firms to develop new oil fields in order to increase the country’s oil production.
Shahristani added that Iraq has made significant strides in producing oil and will soon reap the benefits of the contracts signed with foreign firms.
Nearly 90 percent of Iraq’s revenues come from oil sales. The government hopes an increase in oil revenues will expedite the reconstruction of the country whose infrastructure has been seriously destroyed as a result of decades of wars and sanctions.
With an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil, Iraq is believed to have the third largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
It currently produces 2.4 million barrels of oil per day. Oil accounts for nearly 90 percent of the country’s revenues.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/181053/
