Oil groups dream of day they can enter Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/75d9be86-8621-11db-86d5-0000779e2340.html

Oil groups dream of day they can enter Iraq

<snip>

Ringed with barbed wire, with dozens of US tanks guarding the entrance and American soldiers perched on roofs, the oil ministry emerged unscathed from the post-invasion mayhem. US officials insisted at the time that their objective was to safeguard the centre of Iraq’s vital resources. The US military’s actions, however, fed the conspiracy theory that the toppling of Saddam Hussein was itself designed to gain control of Iraqi oil.

...

While the passing of the legislation by the Iraqi parliament would provide a welcome legal framework for big international oil companies, executives acknowledge that investment is still far off. “The whole industry is interested in Iraq, including us,” says a BP official. But, echoing concerns expressed by other companies, he adds: “The security situation would have to improve dramatically if oil companies like us were to commit themselves to long-term exploration and production.”

...

The big groups are therefore seeking to prepare for the day when they will be able to enter Iraq, trying to create closer relationships with Iraqi officials and to gain information about oilfields in ways that do not require visits to the country. BP and Royal Dutch Shell agreed to provide free assessments of the geological, technical and other data on Iraq’s two main oilfields, Kirkuk in the north and Rumaila in the south. This has helped them catch up with competitors such as Total, which may have gained access to such data when they negotiated contracts with the Saddam regime. Others such as Chevron have forged relationships and gleaned information by organising training sessions for Iraqi engineers outside Iraq.

There has also been concerted lobbying, some of which came to light during Australia’s ongoing official inquiry into kickbacks the Australian Wheat Board is alleged to have paid during the Saddam era. Documents published by the inquiry of meetings among diplomats, business executives and lobbyists show that companies such as BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian mining and oil group, actively lobbied the US and UK after the invasion in the hope of securing contracts for Iraqi oilfields.

[MichiganVote]

1. Yup. We pay for the war with blood and money, they waltz in, and we pay all over again

[Tempest]

2. It won't be the first time

History is repeat with examples of what you described.

Vietnam, Panama, Chile, Phillipines, etc.

[MichiganVote]

4. Corporations figured out how to harness the power and money of gov't

and we haven't recovered from the loss yet. Could be we never will.

[newscott]

3. What they aren't already pumping the country dry on the QT?

Come on. No one's watching. Time to empty that sand pit.

[Lipton64]

5. First they're going to have to get the permission of the Kurds and Shia....

Because only after the Iraqi civil war and when the country is split into 3 and Iran will probably take the south, Turkey the north and either Syria, Jordan, Or Saudi Arabia the western portion.

They will have to actually get the permission of the people before they come in and pillage the oil fields for all their worth. I get the feeling that whichever country(ies) takes over "Iraq" over the next couple of years will probably nationalize the annexed oil industry. Much like how in the late 40s the democratically-elected PM of Iran tried to before he was ruthlessly murdered by MI6 and the CIA at the behest of BP and other American oil interests

This will get interesting.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. I don't think they should wait

I think their top executives should go there right now, so that they can go out in the field and prepare the way.