IRAQ: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband makes surprise Baghdad visit as UK company signs oil deal

Record ID: 344082

  • Title: IRAQ: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband makes surprise Baghdad visit as UK company signs oil deal
  • Date: 27th February 2009
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 26, 2009) (REUTERS) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY DAVID MILIBAND BEING GREETED BY IRAQ'S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOSHYAR ZEBARI AND IRAQI OFFICIALS ZEBARI AND MILIBAND SEATED DURING MEETING VARIOUS OF MEETING IN PROGRESS ZEBARI AND MILIBAND ARRIVING TO GIVE NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY, DAVID MILIBAND, SAYING:
  • Embargoed: 14th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA563QTG223PTNI3PANUYNL3RSJ
  • Story Text: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband met his Iraqi counterpart during a surprise trip to Baghdad on Thursday (February 26), on the day that a British company signed a joint venture deal to drill 60 new oil wells a year in Iraq.
    At a news conference following his meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Miliband said the two countries' relationships are about more than just defence and security.
    "Our relationship becomes one defined not just by defence and security, but also by politics, by economics, by culture and by education."
    He celebrated the oil deal between Iraq and Britain's Mesopotamia Petroleum Company (MPC).
    Miliband was later expected to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nurri al-Maliki and other senior officials.
    Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman of MPC Stephen Remp met with the head of the Iraqi Drilling Company, Idress Al-Yassiri, to sign the joint venture, which is expected to raise Iraq's oil production by 120,000 barrels per day within a year.
    Remp said the agreement was an historic one.
    The first wells to be drilled by the venture, called the Iraqi Oil Service Company, will be in the southern oil fields of Bazargan, Fakka and Halfaya, the last of which is classed as a super giant with more than 5 billion barrels of oil reserves.
    Iraq's Oil Minister, Hussain Al-Shahristani, said the agreement was an important step in working with foreign companies.
    "Some of these companies have been hesitant in the past because of the security situation. With the improved security many companies are interested to come," he said.
    Faced with plunging oil revenues as crude prices tumble from their record highs of 147USD per barrel last year, Iraq is searching for short-term measures to boost oil production.
    The country sits on the world's third largest proven oil reserves and desperately needs funds to rebuild after six years of war triggered by the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
    Current national production is around 2.3-2.4 million barrels per day and crude exports have hovered around 1.8-1.9 million bpd.
    The exports are down from a post-invasion high last year of 2 million bpd because of technical problems.
    Iraq is opening up its vast, and largely underexploited oil and gas fields to international firms this year through two bidding rounds for service contracts.
    Enthusiasm has been tempered by lingering concerns about security, despite a recent sharp fall in violence across Iraq, and the failure of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to pass a new, national oil law.
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