Source:
BBCIraq's cabinet has ratified a deal with two foreign energy companies to develop the giant southern oilfield in Rumaila. The contract with
Britain's BP and CNPC of China is the first major deal with foreign firms to be signed since an international auction in June.
Thirty two companies - including Shell, Exxon, BP and Total - bid for contracts to develop six oil fields and two gas fields in June's televised auction, Iraq's first big oil tender since the invasion of 2003. But most of the bidders withdrew at the last moment, saying the terms on offer were unfavourable.
BP and CNPC agreed to run the Rumaila field - near the southern city of Basra - after US giant Exxon Mobil turned it down.
The maximum amount being offered by the ministry in the case of the Rumaila field was significantly less than the oil companies were asking for. Exxon Mobil declined to accept the maximum payment, but BP and CNPC, which had originally asked for $4 a barrel, agreed to do the work for $2 a barrel.
Read more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8312249.stm
China and Great Britain thank Bush and his war for oil. Exxon Mobil probably expected some special "liberator" consideration.