Indian officials were less than totally satisfied by the outcome of joint working group meeting in New Delhi Friday with representatives of Iraq’s oil ministry.
India learned that the impending hydrocarbon law would require a review of the India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. contract for Iraq’s Block 8, an exploration site awarded by the Saddam Hussein regime. Also, hopes were dashed that Iraq would award the Tuba oilfield to an Indian energy consortium that had been the top pick during a pre-war contract bidding.
“We do want Indian entities to explore in our country. Iraqi government is, however, passing a new law and all contracts or oil field awarded previously will have to be vetted under the new law,” Iraq Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“(The contract for Block 
has to be reviewed in the light of the new law but they don’t have to compete with others. They just have to amend it to meet the conditions of the new law,” he said.
With regard to the Tuba oilfield however, Shahristani said the consortium of OVL, Reliance Industries and Sonatrach of Algeria, had no claims needing satisfied from their pre-war negotiations with Saddam’s regime.
“They were just negotiating. No contract was signed. Tuba will be put for bidding and Indian companies will have to bid for it,” he said.
The oil minister explained at a New Delhi press conference that there were four categories of oil assets in his country. Among them, national oil firms would have exclusive rights to 27 fields that are discovered and developed and 25 others that have only been discovered.
Only 26 discovered fields, including Tuba, and 65 oil exploration blocks would be opened for bidding, he said. “Indian companies would be free to participate. No oil field will be earmarked for a specific country.”
He said specific dates have not been decided on when the bids will be invited.
Fayadh Hassan Nima, director general at Iraq’s oil ministry, told reporters earlier this week that the Iraqi government is preparing tenders for 15 oil and gas assets, which should be ready for auction when the hydrocarbon law passes Parliament.
Posted By Staff Reporter: Gurgaon City News
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