What was the big trouble in the Iraq oil for companies?”
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s hopes for an oil-revenue fueled postwar recovery suffered a sharp blow Tuesday as the foreign oil companies it counted on to help develop its vast reserves greeted the country’s first oil auction in over 30 years with grumbles and just one deal. Roughly a year in the making, the foreign licensing round was touted by Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani as a key step to boosting Iraq’s oil output to 4 million barrels per day and raking in cash the government desperately needs after years of sanctions and the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 left its economy in shambles. But the process has been criticized inside the country from the start, and the poor showing at the televised event could offer opponents of the embattled al-Shahristani even more ammunition. It’s the kind of political unrest that helped keep the companies at arms length, despite a shot at 43 billion of the country’s 115 billion barrels of crude reserves.
