No Bid Contracts

Well, it looks like the Iraqi oil ministry, likely on the advice of the American advisers who work there, have cut some deals with some oile companies for field maintenance

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for No-Bid Contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

(emphasis mine)

No bid contracts...says it all.