Article: Iraq outsmarts Big Oil over contracts.

The Iraqi government's hardball tactics with oil majors demanding a bigger slice of the profits from taking over the country's rundown oil fields are paying off.

Big Oil has caved in and is now meekly accepting the same 20-year deal the companies rejected at a June auction, the first such event in Iraq in nearly 40 years, because the prospect of Iraq's vast untapped reserves was just too good to miss.

The majors have shown a new willingness to drop their demand for payment of up to $4.80 for every barrel they produce on top of current production levels and accept the $2 offer that the government has stuck to since the June action fizzled.

The ...

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