Tony Blair's $1.6 million-a-year paymaster seeks giant Iraqi oil deal

A Middle Eastern investment fund that pays Tony Blair about $1.6 million a year as an international adviser is in talks to develop one of Iraq's biggest oilfields. Mubadala, a United Arab Emirates investment firm, is in negotiations to join a consortium of western oil companies developing the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq. More than $9.6 billion of investment is required for the project. Blair has always insisted that the Iraq conflict was never linked to the country's vast oil reserves, but he was facing criticism this weekend over his role with Mubadala. The investment firm, which receives 80% of its revenues from oil and gas, intends to build the biggest oil company in the eastern hemisphere. It has been confirmed that Mubadala's oil and gas division is in talks with Occidental Petroleum, an American company, about sharing some of its stake in the Zubair deal, which is to be developed by a consortium headed by Eni, the Italian energy firm. The talks were confirmed to financial analysts in a public briefing by Ray Irani, Occidental's chief executive.