POSTWAR BUSINESS

"Iraq is close to signing oil service deals with several major Western oil companies in an effort to boost its output capacity, the country’s oil ministry said Thursday — the first major Iraqi contracts with big Western companies since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The deals, once signed, are something of a stopgap measure to help Iraq begin to increase production until the country is able to approve a new national oil law — now held up by political squabbles among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. But they also could mark the beginning of an important long-term toehold by big Western companies into Iraq’s potentially lucrative oil industry, by giving the companies a bidding advantage over other companies in the future." (MSNBC.Com, 19 June) RD