Nicosia: For some time now, the big question lingering in the mind of executives of international oil companies is what will be the fate of the various contracts or memoranda of understanding (MoU) negotiated by Saddam Hussein's regime for the exploration and development of numerous oilfields in Iraq. That question was answered last week by Philip Carrol, the chief executive officer of the oil sector advisory board, who said that all contracts would be evaluated by the Oil Ministry to determine whether they were made in the best interests of the Iraqi people.

In an interview with 'Washington Post', Carrol made it clear that he expected that the Iraqi Oil Ministry would want to have another look in cases where such contracts were excessively beneficial to oil companies and not the Iraqi people.

Back in 1997, the Iraqi regime had signed two contracts, one with Russian firms Lukoil, Zarubzhneft and Machinoimport and the second with a Chinese consortium led by China National Petroleum Company (CNPC). Moreover, it had signed and ratified a preliminary accord with the Vietnamese company PetroVietnam.

Last December, the Iraqi regime cancelled the contract with Lukoil, the leading Russian oil firm, concerning the development of the giant West Qurna field, because it had failed to begin work in the oilfield. The Russian firm insisted that it could not start work before the lifting of the United Nations economic sanctions against Iraq. The West Qurna project provided for the production of 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The Russian side stands to lose $ five billion. It should be mentioned, however, that Zarubzhneft and Machinoimport had kept their shares in the project.

The second contract signed by Saddam Hussein's regime was with a Chinese consortium led by CNPC for the development of the Ahdab oilfield, expected to produce 90,000 barrels of oil a day. The Chinese consortium also has not carried out any work in the field since 1977.

In January, the Iraqi Oil Ministry initialled contracts with Russian firms Tatneft and Soyuzneftegaz for the development of Western Desert's Block 9 and Rafidain.

It should be mentioned that Indian firm Oil and Natural gas Corporation (ONGC) Videsh Ltd had reached an agreement with the previous regime in Iraq for Block 8 in Western Desert, but no work has been carried out. Moreover, ONGC and Reliance agreed to bid for the development of the Tuba field.

ANI