T. Boone Pickens on Iraq: 'We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil'

A leading energy developer said the United States has been excluded from Iraq's revived energy market.

T. Boone Pickens told Congress that U.S. companies were losing opportunities in the Iraqi crude oil and natural gas sectors to competitors from China and Europe. The senior executive said the United States could lose all influence in the Iraqi oil sector after the military withdrawal in 2011.

"They're opening them [oil fields] up to other companies all over the world," Pickens told the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus on Oct. 21.

"We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil," he said.

Pickens urged Congress to demand a U.S. share of Iraqi oil exploration and development contracts.
In 2009, Iraq awarded its first oil contracts to foreigners, selecting British Petroleum and China's state-owned CNPC. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have been competing with Russia's LukOil to develop Iraq's West Quran oil field.

- Via World Tribune