Iraqis Begin Talks to Resume Oil Production for Domestic Use

Iraqi oil officials began talks Sunday on choosing a new oil minister and resuming production, which was suspended about a month ago when the U.S. invasion began.

Senior ministry staff met U.S. Army officers at the Oil Ministry -- one of the few government buildings to escape looting thanks to U.S. guards -- to discuss how to resume production for domestic purposes, the officials said.

“Our first priority now is to operate fuel stations in Baghdad and to provide fuel to Iraqi power stations in order to resume electricity,” said one official, who asked not to be named.

Iraq has the second largest proven oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia, and the United States is keen for it to resume its oil production and exports to provide energy and funds to help rebuild the war-ravaged nation.

The Iraqi officials said their first target was to restart the Doura refinery on the outskirts of Baghdad, which can produce 100,000 barrels per day. They expected it to reopen as early as next week.

Most of the ministry staff who registered their names Sunday said they had come to work on their own initiative.

“We are ready to restart oil production until a new government takes over,” one key official said. “Then they are going to decide if they keep us or ask us to leave.”

Talks also focused on who would be nominated for the post of oil minister, officials said.

Saddam Hussein’s oil minister, Amir Muhammed Rasheed, was last seen by journalists at the Doura refinery March 25, surrounded by burning pits of oil as bombs fell on nearby Baghdad. He is now on a U.S. list of the 52 most-wanted Iraqis.

A strong candidate to succeed Rasheed is Fadhil Othman, who headed the State Oil Marketing Organization before Hussein assumed the presidency 24 years ago, the oil officials said. Othman also used to run Iraq’s Southern Oil Co.

The oil ministry compound is almost the only government building that survived the looting that swept the capital after Hussein’s regime collapsed.

Ministry personnel echoed the complaints of many Iraqis by questioning why the Americans did not guard other buildings, such as the Iraq Museum.

“It is certainly clear now that they are after Iraqi oil,” one employee said.