Minister authorized to sign oil deals with foreign majors

[Truth2Tell]

Source: Azzaman, Iraq

Azzaman, March 8, 2008

The government has authorized Oil Minister Husain al-Shahristani to go ahead and sign deals with foreign firms as the parliament haggles over the draft oil law.

Assem Jihad, the ministry’s spokesman, said the cabinet in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki asked Shahristani not to wait any more for the legislature to approve the law before signing such deals.

The ministry says it is negotiating five contracts to develop five producing fields.

-snip

Previously, the government had said no contracts would be signed with foreign majors unless the parliament passes the oil law.





Read more: http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2...

[thunder rising]

1. Let's see is there an adjective that desribes Oil Minister Husain al-Shahristani? "Target" comes to

mind.

[rocktivity]

2. Have the Iraqi people authorized the government to give away their oil?

Uh oh--sounds like Bush has gotten what he came to Iraq to get. With Iraq oil privatized to his political backers, does that mean he can start the pullout now, and deprive the Dems of a campaign issue?


rocknation

[Truth2Tell]

3. Still need to guard those pipelines and fields!

Not to mention a couple of bases and a teensy little embassy.

[rocktivity]

4. That can be privatized, too, unfortunately.

Blackwater et al.


rocknation

[ohio2007]

5. Official: Iraq, China Nearing Oil Deal

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq and China are close to re-signing a $1.2 billion oil deal that was called off after the 2003 U.S. invasion, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official said Thursday.

Iraq sits on more than 115 billion barrels of oil, the world's third-largest reserves, but violence and sabotage have crippled efforts to use the resource to fund the country's reconstruction.

As security improves, Iraq is trying to bring in foreign companies to help increase crude output from the current 2.5 million barrels a day to 3 million barrels a day by the end of 2008, and 4.5 million barrels a day by the end of 2013.
Saddam Hussein's government signed a deal with the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. to develop the billion-barrel al-Ahdab oil field, despite U.N. sanctions that barred direct dealings with Iraq's oil industry.

Beijing was waiting for the sanctions to end when the U.S. invasion overthrew Saddam. The two countries restarted talks in October 2006.

snip
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2e7_1205028800

China will have to send in security teams to protect their future oil investments or hire Blackwater to stay on......

[maddezmom]

6. kick

[sabra]

7. (Iraq) Minister authorized to sign oil deals with foreign majors

Source: Azzaman

The government has authorized Oil Minister Husain al-Shahristani to go ahead and sign deals with foreign firms as the parliament haggles over the draft oil law.

Assem Jihad, the ministry’s spokesman, said the cabinet in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki asked Shahristani not to wait any more for the legislature to approve the law before signing such deals.

The ministry says it is negotiating five contracts to develop five producing fields.

Without foreign held and investment it will be hard for the ministry to increase current output levels which are still below pre-war rates, ministry officials say.

Previously, the government had said no contracts would be signed with foreign majors unless the parliament passes the oil law.





Read more: http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/200...

[DesertFlower]

8. but, but, but bush said

we would get cheap oil from iraq.

[noamnety]

9. The parliament that the "government" is ignoring

are the folks the Iraqis voted for. All that fancy dog and pony show with purple fingers and crap, and the "government" is ignoring the elected leaders.

Anyone surprised?

[Igel]

16. "no contracts would be signed with foreign majors unless the parliament passes the oil law"

"Ignoring" might come to pass, but that's not mentioned. "Anticipating" is what you'd infer from the article, and az-Zaman is hardly likely to understate the case.

[noamnety]

17. That was the PREVIOUS rule.

"Previously the government had said no contracts would be signed with foreign majors unless the parliament passes the oil law."

That was before. Now, the unelected government has authorized the oil minister to go ahead and sign the contracts without the approval of the elected parliament.

[Vincardog]

10. This illegal invasion and occupation happened because the old Iraqi constitution

said the the oil fields could not be sold to foreign companies.
The faux "free trade" fascists could not stand the fact that someone had an asset that they could control for their own benefit.
Hence the "War on terror" BS

[Arctic Dave]

11. Wasn't the original elected PM removed?

I was at a book signing by Dahr Jamail last night and I could of swore he said the original guy was canned because he wouldn't play ball. Thats why Al-Malili is in his spot now. He's a Bush lackey. So imagine that. One guy won't sign the oilfields over to us, so Bush puts in one that will. That is some democracy we started over there.

[noamnety]

12. Yep

I heard Raed Jarrar speak last week, and he said the same thing. His summary: Every member of the parliament that the Iraqi public elected was in some sort of nationalist party. (Wanting to keep Iraq united as one country). The vast majority of Iraqis feel that way. That's been the strong majority position in Iraq, consistent from 2003 to 2007 (the last survey I saw).

If I heard Raed right, he said the parliament (legislative branch) selects the head of the executive branch. They did that, the US said "I don't think so" and replaced that person with a separatist (wants to divide Iraq into 3 countries), who then appointed all separatists for the cabinet. Exactly the thing the voters rejected.

So now that we've "exported democracy" (Go USA), we've appointed a unitary executive for them who can ignore the elected officials completely, sell off Iraq's resources, divide Iraq into three countries so that resistance against further imperialism is weakened that much more.

And the joke of it is, we sit around listening to the media tell us that we can't leave because the poor backwards Iraqis can't handle "democracy," which is because their 7,000 year old civilization just isn't advanced enough to govern themselves without our assistance.



(anyway, recommending this thread because it's real news that people need to hear.)

[Arctic Dave]

13. No wonder only 1% of the Iraqis trust their government.

I sure if you broke down the 1% it would be people with "interest" in the new US / Iraqi relationship.

[sabra]

14. it's interesting you bring this up... found this snippet in the Feith thread I posted today:

<snip>

In an interview yesterday, Bremer disputed Feith's narrative, saying he believes that Bush gave up on the idea of a quick transition shortly after Baghdad fell and widespread looting broke out in April 2003.

"By the time I sat down with the president on May 3, it was clear that he wasn't thinking about a short occupation," Bremer said. After consulting his records, Bremer also said that at a White House meeting on May 8, Vice President Cheney said, "We are not yet at the point where people we want to emerge can yet emerge." He said that Feith omits that comment. On May 22, he added, the president wrote to him, saying that he knew "our work will take time."

[New Dawn]

15. This is not just about "foreign investment" but "foreign OWNERSHIP"

And the "foreign investment" is from US and British companies (as opposed to Russian or Chinese companies).

The war was obviously about oil!

[Supersedeas]

18. the Texas Oil men have lost their patience with Democracy