Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The macroeconomics group members did not need the help of Stockhouse moderator SH_Arber to facilitate the topic of the next discussion – they did just fine on their own.

Whether or not oil – and commodities in general – are in some kind of a bubble is a question on all investors’ and traders’ minds these days. Prognosticators both pro and amateur are coming down on different sides of the debate with research to back up their theses – except on Stockhouse.

Here, within this vibrant and outspoken online community of commodity bulls, the consensus is unanimous: Oil prices are NOT in a bubble. Read on to find out the thinking behind this conclusion as members define their terms and then present their cases for high oil prices from here on out.

That is, why shouldn't they be encouraged to innovate, explore and drill to produce more of their product? And why shouldn't we consumers applaud their almost unbelievable accomplishments of engineering?

Repeat thanks to blog reader PeterK for links (Wiki, Chronicle) on the BP/Exxon offshore project Thunder Horse, which is just starting to produce. This rig drilled down nearly 30,000 feet -- think about that -- to bring in oil and gas that will boost U.S. production by more than 3 percent. It took nine years and $1 billion to pull this off 150 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. Worth it?

Gas prices have fallen for the third day in a row, backing further away from recent highs, according to a daily survey released Thursday by motorist group AAA.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gas fell two-tenths of a cent to $4.073 from $4.075 the day before.

Wednesday marks the third consecutive day that gas prices have eased since the national average price hit an all-time high of $4.080 on Monday.