The trade union representing workers of Iraq's state-owned Southern Oil Company Thursday threatened to prevent exploitation of one of Iraq's biggest oil fields by energy giants BP PLC (BP) and China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC.
Iraq last month accepted an offer from U.K. energy giant BP and its Chinese counterpart, CNPC, to work in the giant Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq, which has known reserves of 17.7 billion barrels.
"If those companies try to exploit the field, our first reaction will be to stage a sit-in and to strike," the union's president, Ali Abbas, told AFP.
"We are capable of mobilizing people to confront these companies and prevent their work because it is against the law."
The union opposes exploitation of Rumaila, arguing that the contracts awarded to BP and CNPC contravene Iraqi law. It also fears a wave of layoffs, despite government assurances to the contrary.
"The contracts that the ministry [of oil] wants are service contracts which allow only 10% to 15% of employees [on the fields] to be foreigners," Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP. "The remainder will be Iraqis."
According to Jihad, the ministry will punish employees who block exploitation of the Rumaila field, but he didn't give any details.
Production from the field is currently 1.02 million barrels of oil a day. BP and CNPC will be paid $2 for each barrel of oil that they extract in Rumaila