Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/iraq-opens-oil-fields-to-foreign-firms-for-output-boost Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The Iraqi government announced Monday it was accepting international bids for contracts to operate six of its oil fields. An economics expert discusses the prospect of Western oil companies working in Iraq. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JUDY WOODRUFF: Since the invasion of Iraq five years ago, the U.S. has faced charges that it was driven by a desire to control Iraq's estimated 115 billion barrels of oil.Questions about those vast resources and who should control them were brought back into focus today when Iraq's oil minister invited 41 foreign firms to bid on long-term oil development contracts.The announcement comes amid reports in the New York Times that major oil companies were negotiating short-term, no-bid contracts with the Iraqi government with the help of U.S. advisers.To help explain today's announcement, we are joined by Yahia Said. He's the director for Middle East and North Africa at the Revenue Watch Institute, a New York think-tank. He's also a research fellow at the London School of Economics and has advised members of the Iraqi government on economic issues.Mr. Said, thank you very much for being with us. First of all, what exactly did Iraq's oil minister do today? Because there has been some confusion about it. YAHIA SAID, Iraq Revenue Watch Institute: The main purpose of the press conference today was to announce a bidding round for the long-term contracts to develop five — actually, six major oil fields and two major gas fields, including the main breadwinners for Iraq, the oil fields that produce most of Iraq's output in exports. That was the main purpose of the announcement.He also spoke about the ongoing negotiations for smaller contracts to develop some of these same fields, to increase their capacity marginally, until the long-term contracts come into force. JUDY WOODRUFF: But in terms of the long-term contracts, what is he actually asking these companies to do? YAHIA SAID: Actually, in both cases, the minister is talking about technical service contracts. He's not talking about contracts that would give the companies equity ownership in Iraq's oil. He stressed that fact.So in both cases, Iraq will remain in control over the oil resources. And oil companies will act as service providers to presumably either the Ministry of Oil or the national oil companies that will be established for that purpose.