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Yup, It's an Oil war; Shame on Bush, and SUV owners
Topic Started: Jan 6 2007, 05:58 PM (167 Views)
kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...icle2132569.ece

Future of Iraq: The spoils of war
How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches

By Danny Fortson, Andrew Murray-Watson and Tim Webb
Published: 07 January 2007
Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days.

The US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday. It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.

The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. "So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he said.

Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would permit Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. But it will operate through "production-sharing agreements" (or PSAs) which are highly unusual in the Middle East, where the oil industry in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the world's two largest producers, is state controlled.

Opponents say Iraq, where oil accounts for 95 per cent of the economy, is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty.

Proposing the parliamentary motion for war in 2003, Tony Blair denied the "false claim" that "we want to seize" Iraq's oil revenues. He said the money should be put into a trust fund, run by the UN, for the Iraqis, but the idea came to nothing. The same year Colin Powell, then Secretary of State, said: "It cost a great deal of money to prosecute this war. But the oil of the Iraqi people belongs to the Iraqi people; it is their wealth, it will be used for their benefit. So we did not do it for oil."

Supporters say the provision allowing oil companies to take up to 75 per cent of the profits will last until they have recouped initial drilling costs. After that, they would collect about 20 per cent of all profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. But that is twice the industry average for such deals.

Greg Muttitt, a researcher for Platform, a human rights and environmental group which monitors the oil industry, said Iraq was being asked to pay an enormous price over the next 30 years for its present instability. "They would lose out massively," he said, "because they don't have the capacity at the moment to strike a good deal."

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Salih, who chairs the country's oil committee, is expected to unveil the legislation as early as today. "It is a redrawing of the whole Iraqi oil industry [to] a modern standard," said Khaled Salih, spokesman for the Kurdish Regional Government, a party to the negotiations. The Iraqi government hopes to have the law on the books by March.

Several major oil companies are said to have sent teams into the country in recent months to lobby for deals ahead of the law, though the big names are considered unlikely to invest until the violence in Iraq abates.

James Paul, executive director at the Global Policy Forum, the international government watchdog, said: "It is not an exaggeration to say that the overwhelming majority of the population would be opposed to this. To do it anyway, with minimal discussion within the [Iraqi] parliament is really just pouring more oil on the fire."

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman and a former chief economist at Shell, said it was crucial that any deal would guarantee funds for rebuilding Iraq. "It is absolutely vital that the revenue from the oil industry goes into Iraqi development and is seen to do so," he said. "Although it does make sense to collaborate with foreign investors, it is very important the terms are seen to be fair."
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mmmaestro007
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Middle Aged Carp
to all you W fans - i'd hate to say 'i told you so' but........
"Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands, and all you can do is scratch it!"

Sir Thomas Beechem, conductor
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ny1911
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Senior Carp
Capitalizing on the oil as a spoil of war is different than waging a war for oil. But the world has limited choices - get off oil, stabilize the supply or some combination of the 2.

Maybe the democratic leadership will reduce national demand. I'm not holding my breath.
So live your life and live it well.
There's not much left of me to tell.
I just got back up each time I fell.
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
Basically, the author's viewpoint is a croc of carp.

Several reasons:

1. There is no guaranty that American firms will win these contracts. Of the three firms mentioned, Exxon is an American company, BP is British and Shell is Dutch...although I would submit that all have stockholders the world over. If the process is an open bid, you could have the Chinese working the Iraqi fields.

2. Since when are state-controlled firms more efficient than private ones? I think the Russians proved you could take state owned oil companies and make a royal muck-up.

3. If oil acounts for 95% of the Iraqi economy, they've got a lot bigger fish to fry than worrying about who's pumping their oil...
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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Daniel\
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Fulla-Carp
Jolly
Jan 7 2007, 04:30 AM
Basically, the author's viewpoint is a croc of carp.

Several reasons:

1. There is no guaranty that American firms will win these contracts. Of the three firms mentioned, Exxon is an American company, BP is British and Shell is Dutch...although I would submit that all have stockholders the world over. If the process is an open bid, you could have the Chinese working the Iraqi fields.

2. Since when are state-controlled firms more efficient than private ones? I think the Russians proved you could take state owned oil companies and make a royal muck-up.

3. If oil acounts for 95% of the Iraqi economy, they've got a lot bigger fish to fry than worrying about who's pumping their oil...

The author did not say American firms, he said Western firms. It wasn't just America that was involved in the war.

You didn't address this point:

the provision allowing oil companies to take up to 75 per cent of the profits will last until they have recouped initial drilling costs. After that, they would collect about 20 per cent of all profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. But that is twice the industry average for such deals.

And what makes this possible? We do. Weren't we told oil would pay for the war? Chirp, chirp.

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apple
one of the angels
who built the oil fields.. the equipment.. who enabled the mid east to sell their oil? OIl is a valuable world commodity.. better it be regulated under the control of capitilism - free enterprise under democracy that sold for political gain by whatever venemous regime happens to have seized power in the area(s).

As the world's most powerful nation we must lend assistance. Sitting back and letting the region self destruct would be pure folly.

this is not news.
it behooves me to behold
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AlbertaCrude
Bull-Carp
I wouldn't be too optimistic about the future of PSA's in Iraq for number of reasons.

The Concept of Production Sharing Agreements

Quote:
 

who built the oil fields.. the equipment.. who enabled the mid east to sell their oil? OIl is a valuable world commodity.. better it be regulated under the control of capitilism - free enterprise under democracy that sold for political gain by whatever venemous regime happens to have seized power in the area(s).



In the case of Iraq it was mostly the Russians who built the oilfields and supplied drilling and production equipment along with technical specialists. For downstream and pipelines it was France, Germany, Italy and again Russia. As to who enabled the mid east to sell its oil....you tell me, but I don't think it was anyone in particular. Oil is a valuable natural resource of the country whose sovereign territory contains the resource. It is not property of any other nation, nor do nations have the right to exploit or regulate the natural resources of another nation.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
AC may be right, but its for sure Russia won't be getting the work now, except maybe as a sub. As it should be.

As far as it being a more expensive deal, there is a greater risk factor for the workers going to Iraq than other places. The fact that it will be at a greater premium is not surprising.

Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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AlbertaCrude
Bull-Carp
"as it should be"? For PSA's to work, the process has got to be transparent and the PSA should go to the highest bidder. If the highest bidder is LUKoil or Gasprom then that is how it should be.

...like I said, PSA's will not likely work in Iraq.
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