Russia’s energy minister, Sergei Shmatko, is currently in Baghdad trying to sweet talk the Iraqi authorities into reviving oil deals that were signed in 1997 during the Saddam Hussein regime.
Shmatko is meeting the country’s top politicians during his visit, including Iraq’s oil minister, Dr Hussain al-Shahristani.
The first round of oil auctions in Iraq proved beyond doubt that Dr Shahristani would rather leave Iraq’s hydrocarbons undeveloped than sell them off on the cheap to a foreign company. So while we admire your chutzpah and wish you the best of luck Mr Shmatko – we reckon we’ll be seeing the Russian supermajors at the forthcoming second round of oil auctions along with everyone else.
If anyone fancies crossing swords with one of the most formidable oil chiefs in the Middle East, here are a few facts you may like to consider about Dr Shahristani.
1. Dr Shahristani won a scholarship to Moscow before studying at Imperial College in London, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1965.
2. He went on to get a PhD in nuclear chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1970 and married the woman who typed up his dissertation, Bernice Holtom.
3. He was appointed chief scientific adviser to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission in 1978 and was arrested by security officers while in a board meeting in 1979.
4. After being sentenced to 20 years for “religious activities”, Shahristani was tortured in the notorious Abu Ghraib in Baghdad.
5. After refusing to work on the development of a nuclear bomb, Shahristani was punished with 10 years solitary confinement at Abu Ghraib.
6. Shahristani escaped in 1990, during Allied air raids on Baghdad. The prison was hit and he managed to sneak out dressed as a police officer. He later fled to Iran.
7. Before returning to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Shahristani and his wife ran an Iraqi refugee aid foundation in Tehran and also lived in North London where Dr Shahristani had an office above a furniture shop.
Source: Times Online
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