No Iraq No-bid

The proposed no-bid contracts for six western oil companies in Iraq has been withdrawn, since the window of opportunity is fast closing:

AN IRAQI plan to award six no-bid contracts to Western oil companies has been withdrawn, those involved in the negotiations say.

Iraq’s Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, told reporters at an OPEC summit meeting in Vienna on Tuesday that talks for one-year deals, which were announced in June and subsequently delayed, had dragged on for so long that the companies could not now fulfil the work within that time frame.

I still think that the western oil and gas companies will find a way to get a foothold in Iraq production. There is still no national hydrocarbon law in Iraq. Still, the Chinese are not waiting around:

Since that time, however, Iraq’s central government has moved on with other energy deals. In August, the Oil Ministry signed its first major post-Saddam contract with China’s National Petroleum Corporation.