Terry Macalister 特里麦卡利斯特 and和 Nicholas Watt 尼古拉瓦 | The biggest ever sale of oil assets will take place today, when the Iraqi government puts 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves up for offer in London. |的有史以来最大规模的出售石油资产将在今天，当伊拉克政府将400亿桶可采储量为提供在伦敦。

BP, Shell and ExxonMobil are all expected to attend a meeting at the Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair with the Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani.英国石油公司，壳牌和埃克森美孚公司都将参加的一次会议上柏宁酒店在梅费尔与伊拉克石油部长侯赛因沙赫里斯塔尼。

Access is being given to eight fields, representing about 40% of the Middle Eastern nation’s reserves, at a time when the country remains under occupation by US and British forces.访问正在考虑八个领域，约占40 ％的中东国家的外汇储备，当时该国仍然占领下由美国和英国部队。

Two smaller agreements have already been signed with Shell and the China National Petroleum Corporation, but today’s sale will ignite arguments over whether the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was a “war for oil” that is now to be consummated by western multinationals seizing control of strategic Iraqi reserves.两个较小的协议已经签署与壳牌和中国石油天然气集团公司，但今天的销售将引发争论是否推翻萨达姆是一个“石油战争” ，现在要圆房西方跨国公司控制了伊拉克的战略储备。

Al-Shahristani is expected to reveal some kind of “risk service agreements” that could run for up to 20 years, with formal offers to be submitted by next spring and agreements signed in the summer.沙赫雷斯塔尼预计将揭示某种形式的“风险服务协议” ，可以运行长达20多年，具有正式提议将提交明年春天和签署的协定在今年夏天。

Gregg Muttitt, from the UK-based social and ecological justice group Platform, says he is alarmed that the government is pushing ahead with its plans without the support of many in Iraq.格雷格Muttitt ，从总部设在英国的社会和生态正义组纲要说，他感到震惊的是，政府正在推进其计划的支持，许多在伊拉克。

“Most of the terms of what is being offered have not been disclosed. “大多数条款是提供尚未披露。 There are security, political and reputational risks here for oil companies but none of them will want to see one of their competitors gain an advantage,” he said.有安全，政治和声誉风险这里的石油企业，但没有人愿意看到他们的竞争者获得优势， “他说。

Heinrich Matthee, a senior Middle East analyst at the specialist risk consultant Control Risks Group, also believes there are many pitfalls for those considering whether to make an offer.海因里希Matthee资深中东分析师专业的风险评估顾问，控制风险集团，也认为有很多陷阱对于那些考虑是否作出的要约。

“Currently it is unclear which party in Iraq is authorised to award a contract and at the same time to deliver its side of the bargain,” he said. “目前还不清楚是哪一方在伊拉克的授权颁发的合同，并同时提供其一方的义务， ”他说。 “Any contract with an independent oil company will be subjected to opposition and possible revision after pressure by resource nationalists.” “任何合同，一个独立的石油企业将受到反对党和可能的修订后的资源压力的民族主义者。 ”

Oil companies will find their reputations at risk from the actions of their Iraqi counterparties, such as joint venture partners, suppliers and agents.石油企业将找到自己的声誉处于危险的行动伊拉克对应，如合资伙伴，供应商和代理商。 They will also have to contend with oil smuggling and the possibility that the ruling alliance could collapse, Matthee said.他们也将不得不与石油走私和可能性，即执政联盟可能会崩溃， Matthee说。

He said that if the conspiracy theory that western oil companies egged on US and British governments to invade Iraq were true, the plan could backfire on them and benefit rivals in Asia instead.他说，如果阴谋论，西方石油企业怂恿美国和英国政府入侵伊拉克是真的，该计划可能会适得其反他们和利益在亚洲的竞争对手不是。 “It is possible the American army has provided the economic stability that will encourage Malaysian, Chinese and other Asian companies to become involved,” he said. “这是可能的美国军队提供了经济稳定，鼓励马来西亚，中国和其他亚洲企业参与， ”他说。

There is no precedent for proven oil reserves of this magnitude being offered up for sale, said Muttitt.有没有先例的探明石油储量的这种规模提供了销售，说Muttitt 。 “The nearest thing would be the post-Soviet sale of the Kashagan field [in the Caspian Sea], which had 7bn or 8bn barrels.” “最近的事情将是苏联解体后出售的卡沙干外地[在里海] ，其中70或80桶。 ”

China’s state-owned oil group, CNPC, has already agreed a $3bn (£1.78bn) oil services contract with the government of Iraq to pump oil from the Ahdab oil field.中国的国有石油集团，中石油，已经商定了一项30亿美元（ £ 1.78bn ）石油服务合同，伊拉克政府对泵油Ahdab油田。

The deal is the first major oil contract with a foreign firm since the US-led war and was followed up by an agreement with Shell, potentially worth $4bn, to develop a joint venture with the South Gas Company in Basra.这项交易是首次主要的石油合同的外国公司，因为美国领导的伊拉克战争和随后的协议，壳牌公司，潜在价值40亿美元，建立一个合资公司与南方煤气公司在巴士拉。

This deal has also triggered controversy.这笔交易还引发争议。 Issam al-Chalabi, Iraq’s oil minister between 1987 and 1990, questioned why there had been no competitive tendering for the gas-gathering contract and claimed it had gone to Shell as the spoils of war.伊萨姆基地，沙拉比，伊拉克石油部长1987年至1990年，询问为何没有竞争性招标的气体收集合同，并声称它已经壳牌作为战利品。

“Why choose Shell when you could have chosen ExxonMobil, Chevron, BG or Gazprom?” he asked. “为什么选择壳牌当你可以选择埃克森美孚，雪佛龙，血糖或俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司？ ”他问。 “Shell appears to be paying $4bn to get hold of assets that in 20 years could be worth $40bn. “壳牌似乎是支付40亿美元，以掌握资产，在20年内有可能价值400亿美元。 Iraq is giving away half its gas wealth and yet this work could have been done by Iraq itself.”伊拉克放弃一半的天然气财富，但这项工作可以一直做的伊拉克本身。 “

The Baghdad government says it aims to increase crude oil production from 2.5m barrels a day to 4.5m by 2013, but faces internal opposition from regional governors and political opponents.巴格达政府说，它的目的是增加原油产量从250万桶至4.5米，到2013年，但面临着来自国内的反对派区域省长和政治反对派。

The sale today comes as oil prices have plummeted after stockmarket turmoil on Friday.今天的销售际，石油价格暴跌后，股市上周五动荡。 The price of crude fell by more than $4 at one point to $75 a barrel - the lowest point since September last year and a sharp drop from its peak of $147 in July.原油价格下跌了4美元多在1点，每桶75美元-以来的最低点去年9月和急剧下滑的高峰为1 .477 。 Opec, the oil producers’ cartel, has called an emergency meeting to agree a cut in output to bolster prices in spite of protestations from politicians including Gordon Brown.欧佩克成员国，石油生产商的卡特尔，已召集紧急会议，同意削减产量提高价格，尽管抗议政客包括英国财政大臣布朗。 Brown said on Friday: “We’ve had some success in getting the price of oil down: the price this morning is roughly $80, about half what it was a few months ago.布朗说，上周五： “我们已经取得了一些成功获得石油价格的下跌：在今天上午的价格大约是80美元，大约有一半是这是几个月前。 I want these price cuts passed on to the consumer as quickly as possible.我想这些降价转嫁到消费者尽快。

“I’m concerned when I hear that the Opec countries are meeting, or are about to meet, to discuss cutting production - in other words, making the price potentially higher than it should be. “我很担心当我听到有人说，欧佩克国家的一次会议上，或即将举行会议，讨论削减产量-换句话说，使价格可能高于应该的。

“I’m making it clear to Opec it would be wrong for the world economy and wrong for British people who are paying high petrol prices and high fuel prices to cut production and therefore keep prices high.” “我很清楚，以欧佩克将是错误的，世界经济和错误的英国人谁支付高油价和燃油价格高企削减产量，因此，维持高油价。 ”

A government source said: “The one chink of light has been the fall in the price of oil.政府消息人士说： “一个裂口轻一直是下降的石油价格。 The last thing we want is to head into a difficult period with a return to high oil prices.过去的事情，我们需要的是进入一个困难的时期，回报率高油价。 People need to act responsibly.”人们需要以负责任的方式行事。 “