Iraq’s oil minister Hussein Al-Shahristani brought good news for ONGC Videsh Limited’s (OVL) oil block in Iraq (Block 8) but bad news for the OVL-Reliance consortium. After a meeting with petroleum minister Murli Deora, Al-Shahristani said that once Iraq’s new law on oil would be passed, all earlier contracts awarded by the earlier Saddam Hussein regime would be scrutinised and would have to meet the terms of the new law.

This means that there may be certain amendments in the contract that now stands. However, sources close to the development told The Indian Express that there has been an internal assurance from the oil-rich country that OVL’s claim on Block 8 was just. OVL would continue to hold the block. The story for the OVL-Reliance consortium is different. India had been talking to the Iraqi government about the Tuba oil field since 1998, and talks had progressed to an extent where the terms of the contract were also finalized. However, no contract was signed since war broke out.