Baghdad, May 30: Iraq's oil ministry will solicit foreign investment to help it produce and explore for crude, potentially reversing more than 30 years of a government monopoly of the most sensitive part of the industry, Iraq's interim oil chief said. At the same time, Thamer al-Ghadhban, the ministry's interim chief executive, feels estranged from his counterparts in Opec as he struggles to restore Iraqi oil production to prewar levels.
None of the other 10 members of the organisation of petroleum exporting countries has contacted Iraq's oil ministry since al-Ghadhban took over. Speaking in an interview yesterday press at his office in central Baghdad, he dismissed suggestions that Iraq might participate in the cartel's next meeting planned for June 11 in Doha, Qatar.
Together with his eagerness for foreign investment, al Ghadhban's skepticism of Opec - a group founded in Baghdad in 1960 - marks a major turning point in the development of Iraq's most important industry. Oil is the key to rebuilding Iraq's economy after years of war and economic sanctions. A wave of postwar looting has added to the challenge.
Bureau Report