Iraq seeks $38 billion of mainly foreign investment to boost crude output, but talks with oil majors to attract the capital are still in initial stages, the powerful head of the Iraqi Energy Council said on Thursday.
"We want the fields to produce as quickly as possible with due regard for reservoir management. But the talks are not advanced at all, " Ahmad Chalabi, who is also deputy prime minister, told Reuters from Baghdad.
"Any contracts that Iraq negotiates will have to be approved by parliament and will be subject to public discussion."
Chalabi said Iraq ideally would like to triple production to six million barrels per day in four years once foreign investment comes in. But he acknowledged a long-term oil strategy that assures investors would have to be agreed upon amongst the country's often divided politicians first.
"We have studied cases from around the world and are aware of good examples to follow and bad ones to avoid," said Chalabi, who favours giving priority to US and British oil companies in the Iraqi oil sector because the two countries removed Saddam Hussein from power. Iraq's oil output remains well below 1990 levels that exceeded three million bpd, due to an embargo that crushed economic activity for 13 years.