Iraq's weakened unions fight foreign oil firms

Unions are lobbying against Iraq's new oil contract with BP (BP.L) and China's CNPC, but the weakened labour movement may have a hard time thwarting deals desperately needed to revive a struggling oil sector. The Federation of Oil Unions of Iraq and the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq have condemned the Oil Ministry's decision to award a foreign consortium the contract to develop Rumaila, the country's largest producing oilfield. "We have written a letter to BP and the British consul in Basra, warning them against entering Basra as it will be illegal ... If they do, we will protest and strike," said Faleh Aboud Amara, a top official with the Federation of Oil Unions. Unions were one of the opponents of the ministry's plan to award foreign firms contracts to develop as many as eight oil and gas fields in Iraq's first major energy auction last month, a centrepiece of government efforts to more than double output of around 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd).