The French Connection: Iraq-land of Oil and Sand.

Total S.A., the French oil major that has been in Iraq since 1927, isn't saying much these days about how it's going to maneuver its way back in. But that doesn't mean it can't dram. Word is that it has already had informal discussions wit ExxonMobil about forming a joint venture to exploit Iraq's Majnoon and Nahr bin Umar oilfields as soon as a new Iraqi government is formed. Together those two fields have the …

…ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch/Shell. The current player in that position is Italy's Eni--not nearly in the same weight class as its partners, who are all waiting for it to fail. Can Desmarest outmaneuver his partners to take over as operator? And if so, can he get the oil out through the political embattled Caspian pipeline by the production date of 2005? "Dicey days ahead," says Florence Fee. "But if anybody can do it, Desmarest can."