AP: U.S. in No Rush to Privatize Iraq Oil

[durutti]

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/articlePrint.cfm?id=235634

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The privatization of Iraq's state-run oil industry has faded as a priority for U.S. officials advising the Iraqi Oil Ministry, despite enthusiastic support for the idea among some American conservatives in the months leading up to the war.

Iraqi opposition to privatization, together with the Oil Ministry's success in ratcheting up its production of crude - to more than 2.3 million barrels a day from almost nothing last June, has eased the pressure for a radical restructuring of Iraq's most important industry.

However, Iraqi oil officials are eager to cooperate with foreign companies to find and exploit new sources of crude, and they hope by this autumn to announce their first rules for foreign investment.

U.S. oil advisers and their Iraqi counterparts, speaking to The Associated Press in recent interviews, said they are focusing for now on the immediate goals of boosting Iraq's crude output to prewar levels and securing its oil facilities and pipelines against sabotage.