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The state-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) secured Iraq’s first major oil contract in the post-Saddam era amounting to $3 billion to pump oil from the Adhab oil field. Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani stated that the field would start pumping in 2011, at a target output of 110,000 barrels per day, and operate for 20 years.
Analysts noted that the deal, which revised the terms of a 1997 agreement, was unusual as the current Iraqi government had cancelled all other Saddam-era oil arrangements. Reports also pointed out that the deal had “heavy political overtones”, as seen by the visits of senior Chinese officials.
CNPC, which owns refiner PetroChina, would hold a 75 per cent stake in the joint venture, with Iraq's Northern Oil Company owning the remainder1.
- 1. “China nabs gold in Iraqs oil race,” Forbes-Tina wang, August 28, 2008, at http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/28/china-iraq-oil-markets-comm-cx_tw_0828m...