Up for bid at Iraq oil auction: Uncertainty

Jabir Khalifa Jabir, secretary of the influential oil and gas committee and one of the oil minister's fiercest critics, said if the contracts are not discussed and approved by parliament, they will lack legitimacy and Iraqis can be assured that the country "will enter a new age of economic occupation."

Those comments are a reflection of widespread fears that the return of international oil companies may also herald the return to the monopolies of the 1920s, when Iraq's huge reserves were first tapped.

Shell, the company now known as BP, and Exxon's forebearer, Standard Oil, were all operating in Iraq then.

But it could just as easily be a reference to the widely held belief in Iraq that the U.S. was eying the nation's crude when it invaded in 2003.

Then there is the ongoing struggle between the central government in Baghdad and the semiautonomous Kurdistan regional government in the north.

Iraqi officials say that roughly two dozen deals that the Kurds signed with international oil companies are illegal since they were not approved in Baghdad. The Kurds counter that the upcoming bids are unconstitutional, particularly when they involve two fields in the Kirkuk region.

The Kurdish regional government issued a statement saying that international oil companies should think twice about signing contracts with the oil ministry without consulting with the Kurds.

"Given that security in most of that area is handled by the Kurdish security forces ..., the threat is bound to carry significant resonance," said Samuel Ciszuk, Middle East energy analyst London-based consultancy IHS Global Insight.

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