Shell ready to return to Iraq after 35 years

[sabra]

Source: Iraq Directory

Shell is set to become the first oil major to return to war-torn Iraq since the nationalisation of the country's oil industry 35 years ago.

The Anglo-Dutch group is close to announcing a partnership with the Turkish state oil business TPAO to build a gas export pipeline and reopen gas extraction in the northern republic of Kurdistan.
The pipeline is believed to run alongside an existing one which connects the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan with the giant Iraqi oilfield in Kirkuk. A Shell spokesman said the company has yet to sign any contracts but admitted it had been in talks about re-entering Iraq.

Shell was one of the biggest players in Iraq from the 1920s right up until nationalisation of the oil industry by Saddam Hussein in 1972.

...

Last month Shell's Matthias Bichsel, a senior exploration executive, confirmed that the company had met Iraqi officials in Oman, where Shell has a large gas project, to discuss plans for rebuilding Iraq's gas industry. The company has also reportedly held talks over carrying out oilfield development in Kirkuk in the north and in the Maysan oilfield in the south.



Read more: http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3611

[Donnachaidh]

1. wonder how much of a FEE they deposited in Cheney's Swiss Account

For the privilege of feasting on Iraqi oil? :sarcasm:

[Aviation Pro]

2. Gee, if Cuba had oil instead of casions....

...maybe the government of the United Oil Corporations of America would "liberate" its people too.

[Igel]

5. Cuba has oil.

The Chinese are helping develop the Cuban off-shore oil fields.

Oddly, not long after a big ruckus was made about it Castro came out against ethanol. But there's no reason to be cynical, here, of course.

[Aviation Pro]

6. That's part of the disputed Gulf fields....

...which, of course, the Can-Do-Nothing-Fighting 109th Congress partitioned.

[Igel]

8. If they're really disputed, I guess

that the US Coast Guard or Navy will be rounding up so Chinese oil workers in the new future.

Because disputed or not, Cuba's going to be extracting oil and both using it domestically and probably selling some abroad. Whether or not they "own" it, they "have" it.

And if the oil the Cuba's going to be extracting is in disputed waters, isn't that even *more* of a reason to invade? :sarcasm:

[Jeroen]

3. In return for political, and most likely, military support by the Dutch

government for an illegal war. There was a time when I was 'sort of' proud to be Dutch, but that is long gone.
Those who still think that Holland is an open and tolerant society, think again.
Things are changing rapidly over here. The opposition is calling for an investigation into the Dutch support in the Iraq war, but the conservative majority will not allow this to happen.

[1932]

4. Mission Accomplished

[electron_blue]

7. Aw, you beat me to it.

[AnneD]

9. My thoughts

exactly.

[Jim Sagle]

14. Me too.

[gratuitous]

11. Dang, I shoulda logged on sooner

Mission accomplished, indeed.

[Mountainman]

10. How does Shell get ownership of the oil? How do they make their money?

Who owns the oil in Iraq? I can never get a good answer to these questions. The oil in the ground belongs to whom? How does Shell make money off of it?

[VegasWolf]

12. Shrll will be kicked out 10 seconds after the Bush oil occupiers are kicked out. nt

[Kolesar]

13. Remember the scene in Apocalypse Now when the S burned out, spelling HELL

...on the sign at the fuel dock on the river?