Rumaila legal challenge set for April 27

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court postponed to April 27 a hearing of a lawsuit by a member of Iraq's outgoing Parliament challenging the legality of the first new oil contract awarded by Baghdad to a foreign oil company.

Sheda Musawi, who did not run for re-election in the March 7 national election, claims the contract for the Rumaila oil field, awarded to BP and the Chinese National Petroleum Corp. in a June 30 auction, is illegal.

The British oil major and its partner China National Petroleum Corporation won the right to develop the field in an historic televised oil field auction last June. The contract was formally signed in November.

But amid rising public anger about the ''colonisation'' of Iraq's oil fields, Shatha al-Musawi, an independent former MP, is contesting the prize contract in her country's federal court.

Iraq's efforts to boost its oil output could lift it from being the 11th biggest producer to the top three, after years of under-investment and neglect under Saddam Hussein.

If successful, Mrs Musawi's case could set a legal precedent that would invalidate all the agreements that Iraq concluded last year - with BP, CNPC, ExxonMobil, Petronas, Royal Dutch Shell, Eni, Gazprom and Lukoil.

The court was first due to hear the case in January this year, with Mrs Musawi arguing that the BP contract violates the Iraqi constitution on four counts - including that deals with foreign oil companies need to be properly approved by the country's parliament.

The Iraqi Government contests the allegations and it is trying to get the case thrown out, insisting that its actions were lawful.

Iraq has been preparing to open its oil fields to foreign investment since the end of the war that ousted Saddam, and plans to raise production from 2 million barrels per day to 7 million over the next six years.

However, Mrs Musawi's audacious decision to take legal action against her prime minister is a measure of the public anger about the Government's handling of the contracts.

Source: Telegraph, Iraq Oil Report

Iraq awards $500m Rumaila well deals

Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, director of the licensing office at the Iraqi oil ministry has said that Iraq has awarded contracts to drill 49 out of 56 new wells at the giant Rumaila oilfield, each valued at around $10m, Reuters has reported. Chinese firm Daqing and a joint venture between Schlumberger and the state-owned Iraq Drilling Co are each being awarded contracts to drill 21 new wells, while Weatherford International was awarded seven new wells, Ameedi said. "The remaining seven wells we have left for later, once we review the performance of the contractors," he said. [ameinfo]