Inside Iraq - Iraq's 'black gold' - 24 Jul 09

When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, many accused it of wanting to get its hands on Iraqi oil. Last month that chance came - by means of open bidding - when Iraq held an auction to allow foreign companies to help develop eight oil and gas fields. But seven of the eight failed to attract bids favourable enough to meet Iraq's tough conditions and no bids were accepted from US firms. Iraq gets almost 90 per cent of its revenue from oil exports, so why is the Iraqi government not doing more to develop the country's oil reserves and why are US companies not getting in on the act?