The US this month appointed Mr McKee, a former executive of
ConocoPhillips, the US oil company, to take over from Philip Carroll
as the US's most senior oil official for Iraq.
The move came just after Mr Bahar al-Uloum took up his post.
Several European oil companies have begun to study Iraq's fields.
These include Total of France, which had discussed a deal for the
Majnoon Bin Umar fields, and Italy's Eni, which before the fall of
Saddam Hussein had eyed the Nassiryah field together with Repsol of
Spain.
Royal Dutch/Shell has shown interest in the Ratawi field and sent
out for commission a study on the opportunities in Iraq.
David O'Reilly, head of ChevronTexaco, the second largest US
energy group, said in a recent interview with the FT that he
expected much more dialogue between Iraq and the international oil
companies in the coming months.
Pertamina, Indonesia's state oil company, has said it will begin
to explore for oil south of Baghdad in October, investing $24m
(?21m, £14.5m) over three years into one of the few deals signed
under Mr Hussein that was ratified and remains valid, according to
Iraqi oil officials.
Senior representatives of Iraq's oil sector are expected to
outline the opportunities of rehabilitating Iraq's petroleum sector
at a meeting in Geneva in late October.
