Big Oil Ready for Big Gamble in Iraq

[sabra]

Source: WSJ

BAGHDAD -- Next week, Iraqi officials plan a welcome-back party for Big Oil.

The government intends to auction off oil contracts to foreign companies for the first time since Iraq nationalized its oil industry more than three decades ago. If all goes according to plan in the first round, foreign oil companies will move in to help Iraq revive production at six developed fields that have suffered from years of war and neglect.

But Iraq's fractious politics have complicated the process. Some lawmakers and oil officials have called for a delay of the auction. The man behind the plan, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, appeared before parliament on Tuesday, where some lawmakers questioned the legality of the proposed contracts and what they called favorable terms for the foreign companies. But the auction appears to have sufficient political support to go ahead on schedule, and Mr. Shahristani and other government officials vowed to plow ahead.

Mr. Shahristani's oil deals are crucial to this war-torn country's economy. Iraq is thought to have one of the world's largest supplies of crude oil, with 115 billion barrels in proven reserves. But foreign know-how is key to its plans to boost oil output to four million barrels a day within four to five years, from 2.4 million barrels currently.

Despite security risks, Western oil companies are clamoring to get in. Iraq is still relatively unexplored, offering big companies a potentially easy-to-tap source of growth. Some are touting Iraq as the most important opening of petroleum fields since the discovery in 2000 of the giant Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea.

Some 120 companies expressed interest in bidding for the contracts at the June 29 and 30 auction, according to the oil ministry. Thirty-five companies qualified to bid, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Italy's Eni SpA, Russia's Lukoil and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec. The six oil fields at stake are believed to hold reserves of more than 43 billion barrels. Foreigners won't get the most prized piece of the action -- ownership stakes in the reserves -- but will be paid fees for ramping up output.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124579553986643975.html#mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

[ck4829]

1. Shock doctrine at work. K&R.

[fascisthunter]

2. yeah... it's not as if they had to gamble their own resources for the war though

since we the tax payers had to die and pay for them in the first place, only so they can sell the shit they take from Iraq, back to us... sick.

[sabra]

3. and just a coincidence this auction is occurring the day US troops

withdraw from all major cities in Iraq?

[Ghost Dog]

5. Nicely put.

:thumbsup:

[Joanne98]

4. Mission accomplished!!!!!!

[Amonester]

6. Big Oil doesn't Gamble anything. They Rob the lower classes.

Big Oil never Gamble anything.

They Rob the lower classes.

They Rob them (us) of their children's Lives (more than four thousands troopers DEAD and tens of thousands MAIMED for life).

They Rob them (us) of their children's (up to their Grand-grandchildren's) Taxes (and of a real public healthcare program by ricochet).

And, not content of all the above, Big Oil finally Rob them (us) at the pump to top it off.

And they leave with HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS in their retirement plans!


Why? Why is that they can commit so many injustices and never be held accountable by anyone?

Why?