China to charge $6 a barrel to develop Iraq field

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq on Tuesday cleared a plan to develop an oil field by China Petroleum National Corp. at a service fee of six dollars a barrel, giving Beijing a foothold into the world's third largest oil reserves.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said the cabinet had approved the three-billion-dollar deal that will see China's state-owned company developing the Al-Ahdab oil field in the central Shiite province of Wasit.

"The Chinese company will charge six dollars per barrel of production as service fees which would decrease gradually to three dollars," Shahristani told reporters inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

He said the plan is to be produce 25,000 barrels of oil per day in the first three years.

An Iraqi oil ministry...