Posting this under ASX General because of overall possible effect; this also could have impact on the Asian gas market, with long term concern on Mid East supply and consequent increased interest in stable sources such as Australia. ……..
EXPECTATIONS that foreign companies can cash in on Iraq's oil riches are in doubt after a key parliamentary body in Baghdad pledged to "push Shell out" and halt a forthcoming licensing round.
The warning from the secretary of the Iraqi parliament's oil and gas committee, Jabir Khalifa Jabir, was seen by financial analysts yesterday as a serious threat to Western investment opportunities in a country that holds the second-largest oil reserves in the world.
“We are going to do everything we can to revoke this deal and to push Shell out," he said. “Both these deals are illegal because they didn't go through parliament. The companies and their lawyers knew the old Iraqi oil law very well."
Shell has been considered a front runner in the race to seize control of the Iraqi energy sector after signing a $US4 billion ($5.5 billion) deal to process and market gas from the south and ship it, possibly to Britain, as liquefied natural gas.
