04-17-07 by dugan
BP put down its marker on Iraqi oil today, with a senior exec saying "I think we can help in all areas: enhanced oil recovery from existing fields, in discovered and not developed fields, or in exploration."
Steve Peacock, president of BP’s president of Middle East and South Asia Exploration and Production for BP, had plenty of caveats—the new oil law has to be passed first, security improved and BP would would also wait for assurance that any contracts would survive changes in government. Come again? Hasn’t he been watching the news from Venezuela?
What Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips–and BP–thought were ironclad contracts are being torn up by President Hugo Chavez. And today Venezuela’s oil minister indicated there might be no compensation at all for the government’s takeover of majority control in the companies’ rich Orinoco oilfields. Watch for oil prices to shoot up again on that news–and pump prices to follow.
At least BP is being more cautious than Chevron, which put itself first in line to make deals with Iraq by ponying up to sponsor Baghdad’s first energy summit.