The Financial Times Deutschland is reporting that China and Iraq want to revive a Saddam-era oil contract between the two nation that is worth billions of dollars. The contract, an obvious economic coup for China, secures Beijing exploration and development in the south of Baghdad situated Ahdab oil field.
The Iraqi government looks to be doing everything it can to thumb its nose at the Bush government and define its sovereignty outside of the U.S. sphere of influence. If the United States entered the war in Iraq to gain secure access to oil, spending over $1 trillion in the process, it has not been successful.
My translation:
“Iraq and China are working hard to demonstrate their cooperation through the conclusion of a development agreement for the Ahdab oil field,” it was noted in a statement by the Iraqi Oil Ministry. The agreement will have a value of approximately $ 1.2 billion. It was agreed to in 1997 under Saddam Hussein and was to enter into force after the end of the then-UN sanctions against Iraq.
The agreement would be the first oil contract from the Saddam regime, which the new government has upheld. Despite claims by foreign oil companies, Baghdad had so far refused to benefit firms with pre-war arrangements for the allocation of oil contracts. The contract with the state-owned Chinese oil group CNPC was closed, although UN sanctions forbid direct transactions with the Iraqi oil industry. It was worth about $700 million at that time. After its development, the Ahdab oil field development should yield approximately 90,000 barrels of oil per day.
Source
China greift nach irakischem Öl – Financial Times Deutschland