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Kurds making their own Iraq oil deals
EFLA Kurdish political party working with the United States to shape an interim government in Iraq has quietly pushed ahead on three oil development projects, acting autonomously as a local government. You may well ask; "Won't the Turkish government object about the Kurds acting like they are in control of the northern oil fields? Isn't that why they threatened to move their troops into Northern Iraq?" Yes, but keep reading. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main Kurdish parties in Iraq, has signed production-sharing contracts with two Turkish companies, PetOil and General Energy, to develop and survey oilfields in north-east Iraq, according to Rasheed Khoshnaw, deputy director of the party's special projects division. That's why the Turks are so quiet. Clever people, those Kurds. Party officials also agreed recently to allow an Australian company to do surveying work in eastern Iraq, Mr Khoshnaw said. He did not name the company. Mr Khoshnaw said that the most recent of the oil agreements was concluded three months before the war in Iraq began in March. At that time, United Nations sanctions limiting Iraqi oil exports were firmly in place, although now the Security Council is considering a resolution that would lift them. I think a new slogan is in order, "No Oil For The U.N.!" Posted by: Steve 2003-05-15 |
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