Parliament? What parliament? ... Oil? Whose oil?
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"The biggest ever sale of oil assets will take place today, when the Iraqi government puts 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves up for offer in London.
BP, Shell and ExxonMobil are all expected to attend a meeting at the Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair with the Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani.
Access is being given to eight fields, representing about 40% of the Middle Eastern nation's reserves, at a time when the country remains under occupation by US and British forces.
This deal has also triggered controversy.
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Two smaller agreements have already been signed with Shell and the China National Petroleum Corporation, but today's sale will ignite arguments over whether the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was a "war for oil" that is now to be consummated by western multinationals seizing control of strategic Iraqi reserves.
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Issam al-Chalabi, Iraq's oil minister between 1987 and 1990, questioned why there had been no competitive tendering for the gas-gathering contract and claimed it had gone to Shell as the spoils of war.
"Why choose Shell when you could have chosen ExxonMobil, Chevron, BG or Gazprom?" he asked. "Shell appears to be paying $4bn to get hold of assets that in 20 years could be worth $40bn. Iraq is giving away half its gas wealth and yet this work could have been done by Iraq itself."
Iraqi government fuels 'war for oil' theories by putting reserves up for biggest ever sale, October 13, 2008
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"In a surprise development at a meeting in London on Monday, the Iraqi oil minister, Hussain al Shahristani, invited 35 pre-qualified foreign oil companies to bid for a share of revenues from six big Iraqi oil fields and two gas fields after certain initial targets are met. The competitive bidding round will be Iraq’s first for licences to produce oil and gas in the oil-rich country, and is being closely watched internationally.The structure of the new deals unveiled by Mr Shahristani runs against what most western oil companies and analysts were expecting and many had feared: more “technical services contracts” based on flat fees for pumping oil. Instead, by offering extra long-term incentives to foreign investors in Iraq’s re-emergent oil sector, the Iraqi oil minister may have swept aside one of the biggest impediments to getting the country’s energy development programme back on track: persuading technically savvy western oil companies to assist."
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Foreign oil companies are expected to submit bids on the 20-year contracts within six months, and Iraq’s government wants deals to be in place by next June. Only the Iraqi cabinet would review the deals and decide whether to approve them, Mr Shahristani said, bypassing the need for protracted debate in Iraq’s politically fractious parliament. “We cannot afford any more delays,” he added."
Iraq announces details of oil contracts October 14, 2008
Above emphasis added. Comment - Planting Democracy in Iraq!
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