How did Iraq develop its oil fields?
Iraq’s oil was originally developed through a western-based conglomerate called the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) – with BP, Shell, and the forerunner to Total (CFP-France) each getting roughly one quarter, with the remainder owned primarily by Standard Oil and Mobil.1 In 1972, the revolutionary Iraqi regime took over the oil industry and nationalized it. After a bitter period of negotiations with Saddam Hussein and the vice-President Salih Mahdi Ammash, Geoffrey Stockwell (head of the IPC) ceded control of all oil operations in Iraq over to Hussein’s government on February 28, 1973.
