• Mayo Clinic mastectomies have increased
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:52 PM
    ROCHESTER, Minn., May 16 (UPI) -- More women are opting for mastectomy for early breast cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., but researchers say they are not sure why.
  • Crohn's disease linked to protein
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:52 PM
    MILAN, Italy, May 16 (UPI) -- Crohn's disease and other chronic intestinal disorders are linked to low levels of a protein that helps bind the stomach lining, Italian scientists say.
  • Sugarland to release third studio album
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:48 PM
    NASHVILLE, May 16 (UPI) -- The country music duo Sugarland is set to release its third studio album "Love on the Inside" this summer, Mercury Nashville announced Friday.
  • Mayo Clinic mastectomies have increased
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:52 PM
    ROCHESTER, Minn., May 16 (UPI) -- More women are opting for mastectomy for early breast cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., but researchers say they are not sure why.
  • Crohn's disease linked to protein
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:52 PM
    MILAN, Italy, May 16 (UPI) -- Crohn's disease and other chronic intestinal disorders are linked to low levels of a protein that helps bind the stomach lining, Italian scientists say.
  • Sugarland to release third studio album
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:48 PM
    NASHVILLE, May 16 (UPI) -- The country music duo Sugarland is set to release its third studio album "Love on the Inside" this summer, Mercury Nashville announced Friday.
  • Bus group wants 'gentler' female drivers
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:44 PM
    SYDNEY, May 16 (UPI) -- Female drivers are being sought by a bus operator in the Australian city of Sydney for their "gentler" driving abilities, transport officials say.
  • Man claimed real benefits for fake kids
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:37 PM
    ABERDEEN, Scotland, May 16 (UPI) -- A Scottish man with an expensive heroin habit has been sentenced to 13 months in prison or claiming child care benefits for 36 children.
  • Obama hits back at Bush, McCain
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM
    WATERTOWN, S.D., May 16 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, campaigning in South Dakota, fired back at comments made by U.S. President George Bush and Sen. John McCain.

Saddam, KRG oil deals will stand


Published: July 2, 2007 at 12:22 PM
ISTANBUL, Turkey, July 2 (UPI) -- Saddam Hussein's oil deals and those the Kurds have reached with oil companies will be kept but modified to comply with a new Iraqi oil law.

"All of them will be reviewed," said Thamir Ghadhban, energy adviser to Iraq's prime minister. "They will not be canceled. They will not be asked to bid again. They are a special case." All other fields will be put to tender, he said.

Iraq and China are in talks to bring a 1997 deal in line with a yet-to-be approved oil law which, as currently written, forms a federal oil and gas council to review the new deals. The oil law is stuck in negotiations between the federal government and Kurdistan Regional Government over control of certain fields and Ghadhban, leading Baghdad in negotiations with the Kurds, said it is unknown, maybe a couple months, before progress is made.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani last week led a 40-plus member delegation to China. It included Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani.

"China is very important to us because we know that they have rising demand for oil and southeast Asia is very important to Iraq as a market, now and for the future," Ghadhban told reporters in Istanbul, Turkey, following a presentation at the "East Meets West: New Frontiers for Energy Security" conference, organized by Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

The China National Petroleum Corp. is angling to maintain rights to develop the 80,000 barrel per day al-Ahdab oil field, a $1.2 billion deal it signed with Saddam Hussein.

Other past deals -- with Vietnamese, Indian and Indonesian firms -- are also still valid, pending oil law issues.

The Kurdistan Regional Government, semi-autonomous in the now relatively safe northern Iraq, has signed five deals with foreign firms to develop its vast oil wealth.

"As far as the contracts signed by the KRG, before and after the fall of the regime, they have also to review them, amend them and present them to the council and the office of independent advisor's decisions will be final," Ghadhban said.

--

Ben Lando, UPI Energy Correspondent


© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
» Next in Energy - Briefing: India's clean energy to rise eight-fold