Friday, July 4, 2003
Poland wants access to Iraqi oil fields
Agence France-Presse Warsaw, July 4
Poland wants access to Iraqi oil fields, Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said on Thursday, following the signature of a US-Polish business agreement on Iraqi reconstruction.
"We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies to finally have access to sources of commodities," the minister told the PAP agency following the signing of a cooperation agreement between US company Kellog Brown and Root (KBR) and Polish company Nafta Polska.
Access to the oil fields "is our ultimate objective", Cimoszewicz said. KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil firm previously headed by US Vice President Dick Cheney, which has been criticised for the way it allegedly obtained reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
Some contracts, potentially worth several billion dollars (euros), were allegedly awarded to Halliburton with all other companies excluded from bidding.
Nafta Polska is a state-owned company representing the interests of Polish oil and gas companies seeking potentially lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts.
The company also runs Poland's second largest oil refinery, Rafinieria Gdanska.
Thursday's agreement between KBR and Nafta Polska simply provides for "cooperation on Iraqi reconstruction", according to a statement. "Analysis carried out by KBR concludes that there is room for Polish companies (in reconstruction projects)," Nafta Polska director Adam Sek said.
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