Of course you have no evidence for suggesting any form of coercion. In fact, the Iraqi parliament refuses to be coerced in any way. The major majority of Iraqi politicians refuse to allow foreign oil companies to drill on their soil. THERE IS NO FOREIGN DRILLING! These contracts are about infrastructure improvements to the Iraqi drilling and refining process. That helps the Iraqis to make use of their natural resources in a more efficient and cost effective way.

The Iraqis aren't as dumb and gullible as you seem to believe. They are well aware of the vast wealth under their feet, and they will do what they can to make sure it is Iraq who prospers as a result.

The [Iraqi] Oil Ministry announced on 30 June that foreign oil companies would be invited to bid for contracts to develop six of Iraq’s largest oilfields, which together contain around half of the country’s known oil reserves. Yet most commentators missed the significance of the move – that it would give away more to foreign companies than had been planned at any point since the Constitution was written in 2005, and possibly more than any major oil producer has given since the colonial era....

"The big question is why the Oil Ministry would want to bring in the multinationals for these fields. The Ministry is not short of cash: in fact, it has been consistently unable to spend the funds provided to it, so is now sitting on billions of dollars that could be invested in the fields. And technology can easily be purchased, whilst Iraqis maintained the management of the fields. The true explanation seems almost too obvious for most commentators to spot. One radio interviewer asked me “Why shouldn’t the Iraqi government sign these contracts if it wants to? – it’s not as if someone’s holding a gun to their head”. In fact, that is exactly what is being held to Iraqis’ heads. Or more precisely, over 150,000 guns.... "State Department spokesman Tom Casey added that the US role is similar to that of a lawyer helping a client draw up a will. It was an apt analogy. The USA sees Iraq’s economy as in its dying throes, and is helping the Iraqi government decide how much of its estate to bequeath to BP, Shell or Exxon. "But all is not yet lost for advocates of Iraqi sovereignty over its oil. Companies are not to bid for the contracts until next March, and signing is not expected until summer 2009 – giving plenty of time for the policy to change. During this time, the political landscape will alter significantly following the departure of the Bush/Cheney administration. "And the so-far successful Iraqi campaign against oil privatisation continues to make progress. According to press reports, the Oil Minister has finally agreed to open the technical service contracts to parliamentary scrutiny before they are signed. This is a welcome move, although it needs to be extended: all Iraqis should have a right to know what is being done to their natural resources."
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You might be forgiven by thinking Iraq is an oil rich state, in fact it can only ever achieve an output of 2008 thousand barrels per day (p/d)

This little fact means the following countries have a greater capacity:

Norway 2786 p/d
Algeria 2122 p/d
Nigeria 2442 p/d
Mexico 3707 p/d
Venezuala 2803 p/d
Kuwait 2675 p/d

Of course this exludes the big boys;

US 8330 p/d
Russia 9677 p/d
China 3845 p/d
Saudi Arabia 10,665 p/d
UAE 2945 p/d
Iran 4146 p/d
Canada 3288 p/d

The US produces 4x more oil than Iraq can ever dream of at 8330 P/D.

In interest, Saudi Arabia is top of the league with 10,665 P/D

No, those statistics and estimates are woefully wrong. Here have a look at this article. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/23bedd7e-e...b5df10621.html

Also a very interesting article I found
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080721/lookout

First of all those figures are from the official source (International Energy Agency) the authorative on world energy sources whose figures countries recognise as being the most accurate as possible data.

As opposed to your source, which is a consultancy service and full of "If's" and "May's" with the odd "Unconfirmed". This is actually not unusual for countries seeking large financial investment into oil exploration and extraction to claim, it happens time and time again. So your source offers nothing new outside of the official figures I provided for you.

Another thing, even if (and it is an "if") it turns out the oil reserves are larger, this was not known prior to the war.

Lastly, it is unusual for no-bid contacts and it's just as unusual for the short period of time that it covers. Bids take a long time to process, time Iraq does not have so just because they have provided a quick fix short term solution does not imply "Surprise surprise Bush was after oil nonsense".