LUKoil said Tuesday it would block Iraq's huge West Qurna oil field development for many years if any U.S. or British firm decided to challenge its leading role in the project.
Nothing more imperialistic than reformed communists...
LUKoil vice president Leonid Fedun stated that the firm would sue any new contender for the field for at least $20 billion and ask international courts to arrest tankers with Iraqi crude oil.
Uh oh, LAWYERS !!
"Nobody can develop this field without us in the next eight years. If somebody decides to squeeze LUKoil out, we are going to appeal in the Geneva arbitration court, which will immediately arrest this field," Fedun said.
We won't squeeze you out, just open the deal up for competitive bids with the proceeds going the the Iraqi Trust rather than a handful of Islamothugs...
"This type of trial can last for about six or eight years. ... We are going to arrest tankers with crude produced in Iraq using the Geneva court," he added.
Sounds like he's fishing for a settlement...
Oil analysts have said that ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips of the United States are likely to compete with Anglo-Dutch Shell Group, Britain's BP and TotalFinaElf of France for major production contracts should postwar Iraq privatize its oil industry. Russian firms have the most to lose in a postwar Iraq as they have signed contracts worth $4 billion with the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to drill oil wells, deliver Missiles equipment and develop Iraq's massive oil reserves, which rank second in the world after those of Saudi Arabia. The key deal is a $3.7 billion contract held for years by LUKoil and to develop West Qurna. Iraq scrapped the deal in 2002 saying LUKoil sought U.S. guarantees to keep the field under any government change, while LUKoil said the move was aimed at punishing Russia's diplomacy for its moderate position in the UN Security Council. Fedun said LUKoil still believed the field belonged to his firm: "From the legal point of view, it is still our field."
Wah, I want my field back ! |