BAGHDAD: A major independent US oil producer said Wednesday that it has terminated negotiations with Iraq to develop an oil field. A spokeswoman for Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Paula Beasley, gave no reason for the decision but said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that ``we do not intend to pursue additional interests at this time.'' The Texas-based company has a memorandum of understanding with the Iraqi government under which it has provided free technical advice, Beasley added. Anadarko, the leader of a consortium that included Vitol Holding and the United Arab Emirates' Dome International, was negotiating a no-bid Technical Support Agreement, or TSC, to develop the Luhais oil field in southern Iraq. The Iraqi Oil Ministry refused to comment on the company's decision. Iraq's Oil Ministry has been negotiating with oil majors for two-year service contracts to develop several major oil fields in southern and northern Iraq. But the contracts sparked a backlash over concerns that granting such contracts to Western oil companies could feed perceptions that US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein to seize Iraq's vast oil reserves. Last month, the ministry said it had limited the no-bid contracts to one year to avoid overlap with longer-term deals expected to be signed next June. Five of the oil fields up for longer-term development are also included in the no-bid contracts under negotiation. They are Rumaila, Zubair, West Qurna 1, Maysan and Kirkuk. In addition to Anadarko, Iraqi officials have said that the government is negotiating short-term technical service contracts with Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron and Total to boost oil production by 500,000 barrels per day by the end of this year. In an e-mailed response to AP, both Chevron and BP confirmed that negotiations were still ongoing with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, but released no details. Others didn't respond. ``Our discussions with the government of Iraq remain confidential and we are unable to comment at this point in time,'' said BP spokesman Fares Ghneim. Iraq is now producing about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, its highest rate since the US-led invasion in 2003. The government hopes to produce 4.5 million barrels per day by 2013. Iraq has more than 115 billion barrels of oil in its reserves, but its oil industry has been battered by years of war and UN sanctions. |
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