As recently reported by The Guardian, China crossed the line first in the race for big oil contracts in post-Saddam Iraq and has gained a head start over Western oil majors in the competition for future energy deals.  Per the article:

“…China’s biggest oil company, state-run CNPC, agreed a $3 billion service contract with Iraq on Wednesday.

The deal could set a precedent for terms that fall far short of the lucrative contracts the oil majors had hoped for as they jostled for access to the world’s third largest oil reserves.

…”The biggest significance of this deal is that CNPC will benefit as the first international oil company to be developing one of the giant discovered oil fields in Iraq in the new era,” said Alex Munton, analyst at global consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

…Now CNPC and China’s other state-supported oil firms are likely to face off with Western oil companies in a bid round for other long-term contracts to enhance giant fields already in production. Iraq aims to sign those deals in mid-2009.

…Energy-hungry China has already provided tough competition for Western oil majors in Africa. Chinese state oil companies can take on more risk than big oil firms as securing future energy supplies is a matter of strategy rather than profit.

…CNPC faced no competition for Adhab, a renegotiated contract first signed under Saddam in 1997. Full details have yet to emerge, but it is know that the new service contract is for a set fee, a change from the initial production sharing agreement (PSA)…”