http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/
16560149.htm
BAY AREA BUZZ Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
Chevron holds talks with Iraq to build facility
Iraq is in negotiations with San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. and
Exxon
Mobil Corp. to build a new $3 billion petrochemical facility, and
is in
talks with several other Western companies over industrial
projects.
In an interview Thursday, Fowzi Hariri, Iraq's minister for
industry and
minerals, said the discussions with Chevron and Exxon began this
week in
Washington and are at an early stage.
"It will be one or the other company for this new facility, not
both," he
said. "We're hoping to have a (Memorandum of Understanding) in
place by
about July."
The minister, who has been in his post since June, said the issue
of
security was a prominent feature of the discussions, given the
sectarian
conflict that has come to characterize Iraq over the past year. He
said
he emphasized to the companies that much of the violence has been
in
Baghdad.
The discussions with the companies have been greatly aided by an
Iraq
foreign investment law that won final approval last October, he
said.
(snip)
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