|
Western firms set to profit from Iraq oil
 Iraqs 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, according to a report in The Independent on Sunday. The Independents report said that the US government has been involved in drawing up a law, which 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 report said that the huge potential prizes for Western firms would give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from US 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 worlds oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, he said. According to the report, 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 Iraqs oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. But it will operate through production-sharing agreements which are highly unusual in the Middle East. Opponents say Iraq 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 Iraqs 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, 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, said the report. Posted by: Fred 2007-01-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=177179 |