BAGHDAD: An Iraqi oil official says U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford International Ltd., has won a $224.4-million contract to drill in southern Iraq.The official with the state-run Maysan Oil Co. said Wednesday the Houston-based company has 24 months to drill 20 wells in the southern Buzurgan oil field in Maysan province.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the wells will boost current the field's current output of 80,000 barrels per day by at least 40 percent.The deal - ratified Tuesday by the Iraqi Cabinet - is part of an accelerated plan to raise Iraq's output from its current level of 2.4 million barrels per day by 2010.Maysan is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
Comments