Middle East Oil Caldron Bubbles Iraq Dangles Huge Oil Fields as UN Sanction-Busting Bait. Two of the Middle East's Oldest Antagonists Are Maneuvering to Further Their Strategic Interests in the Volatile Region. Iraq Is Offering Huge Oil Contracts to Any Nation Willing to Break United Nations Sanctions. Its Erstwhile Enemy Iran Is Amassing a Large Military Force near the Critical Strait of Hormuz, Possibly Threatening the Free Flow of Oil

Thomas Stauffer, Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor

IRAQ is playing its oil card.

In a dramatic bid to undermine the United Nations trade sanctions against it, the Arab nation is offering access to billions of barrels of oil to the first country to break ranks.

At a meeting in Baghdad last week, oil-industry executives from around the world were surprised by the detailed announcement of the biggest oil- field auction in more than half a century.

Iraq's oil minister, Dr. Safa Jawad al Haboubi, laid out a roster of oil fields able to produce 4.5 million barrels per day, and with proven reserves greater than all of those of North America. It's the biggest block of proven, low-cost petroleum fields outside of …

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Publication information: Article title: Middle East Oil Caldron Bubbles Iraq Dangles Huge Oil Fields as UN Sanction-Busting Bait. Two of the Middle East's Oldest Antagonists Are Maneuvering to Further Their Strategic Interests in the Volatile Region. Iraq Is Offering Huge Oil Contracts to Any Nation Willing to Break United Nations Sanctions. Its Erstwhile Enemy Iran Is Amassing a Large Military Force near the Critical Strait of Hormuz, Possibly Threatening the Free Flow of Oil. Contributors: Thomas Stauffer, Monitor - Author. Newspaper title: The Christian Science Monitor. Publication date: March 23, 1995. Page number: 1. © 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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