China faces unexpected problem drilling for oil in Iraq – paper

BAGHDAD – IraqiNews.com: The Wall Street Journal said on Friday that the first oil investment company in Iraq suffers blackmailing and looting by local residents in Wassit, noting that there are challenges will face other companies. China National Petroleum Corp. began work in March to develop the Ahdeb oil field in Wassit in southeastern Iraq, marking the first significant foreign investment in the country’s vast but creaky oil industry, according to the Wall Street Journal. Company officials expected logistical and security challenges in the war-torn country. But two months later, their investment is running into an unexpected obstacle: angry farmers. CNPC’s hassles could offer important lessons for other big international oil companies jockeying for a role in Iraq’s oil industry. Next month, Iraq is set to award a series of drilling contracts to major international companies. Royal Dutch Shell Group PLC, BP and Exxon Mobil Corp. After a few weeks after the Chinese company started its work in Wassit, local farmers came to the field and complained that the drilling hurts their properties and demanded the company to compensate them. “Some Iraqi official s said that farmers looted the oil equipments last month and early this month,” the paper said. SH (S) 4