Alice Fordham in Beirut
More than 40 international oil companies will gather in Baghdad today to bid for contracts to work on the worlds third-largest reserves.
The auction, which will take place over two days, offers service contracts to work on ten oilfields, groups of oilfields and one gasfield in the country, including the supergiants of East Baghdad, West Qurna-2 and Majnoon, which have reserves of 8.1 billion, 12.9 billion and 12.6 billion barrels of oil, respectively.
Three British companies BP, Cairn Energy and BG Group are among the bidders, alongside companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Gazprom. Competition is expected to be fierce and the groups were reluctant to reveal which fields they wanted.
The enthusiasm and number of bidders is high, despite enormous obstacles in terms of security, infrastructure and an administration rated the worlds fifth most corrupt in Transparency Internationals annual Corruption Perception index.
Initial reluctance to invest in Iraqi oil was compounded this year after a first round of bidding for contracts, in June, was delayed by sandstorms, blighted by unexpectedly tough terms and shaken by the failure of the Iraqi Government to pass a hydrocarbons law setting out definitively the terms of investment.
Only one contract, of a potential six, was awarded to China National Petroleum Corp and BP, which has a long history in Iraq, to work on Rumaila oilfield.
However, confidence among investors has risen in the past month, since two consortiums Exxon Mobil with Shell and Italys Eni with Occidental Petroleum Corp and Korea Gas Corp signed deals to work on the West Qurna-1 and Zubair oilfields.
Enthusiasm for this round of bidding was further increased by the fact that the fields offered are undeveloped. Investors in the partially exploited fields offered in the first round were obliged to work with outdated Iraqi equipment, some of which dates to the first half of the past century, and to combat the effects of years of poor management.
Robert Powell, an Iraq analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said: The first licensing round was a damp squib at first, but the two subsequent deals were pretty close to a triumph . . . it gives confidence.
Mr Powell said that challenges remained and that there were dangers that the opaque system and unreliable bureacracy could change tax levies after contracts had been signed as the hydrocarbons law has still not been passed.
Pragmatic concerns also remain, such as the fact that the drilling process usually requires significant amounts of water to maintain pressure, a problem in drought-stricken Iraq. Mr Powell said: The Iraqi Government has promised to make sure there will be enough water, but there are major question marks about whether that is a promise they can keep.
Industry insiders are concerned also by the ability of Iraqs infrastructure to cope with field development. Umm Qasr, Iraqs only functioning port, was devastated in the early part of the war and it is probable that it will struggle to cope with the large-scale import of massive machinery.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
