INDEX RESEARCH

Index Research will focus on a country or an issue which is of particular interest to me. Articles have appeared on http://www.afterdowningstreet.org http://www.albasrah.net http://www.aljazeerah.info http://www.bellaciao.org http://www.brussellstribunal.org http://www.globalresearch.ca http://www.informationclearinghouse.info http://www.mediachannel.org http://www.uruknet.info http://www.williambowles.info and others.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The Iraq Oil Crunch: Index Timeline

By Sarah Meyer
Index Research

Updated: 03.09.07

Centcom map
NY Times, ‘06

CIA March 2003 oil map of Iraq

"For any oil company," one oil executive told the New York Times in February 2003, "being in Iraq is like being a kid in F.A.O. Schwarz ." Tomgram: Michael Klare on Iraq's Missing Sea of Oil

The US Government wants control of Iraq’s oil. The US bases in Iraq sit on Iraqi oil fields (see two maps above).

In March 2006, I wrote an essay, PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II: "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf. Chapter 5 is entitled Crude Designs in Iraq

Paul 'Jerry'¹ Bremer replaced the deposed Jay Garner as "Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian (sic) Assistance. He was the Presidential envoy for the first 'Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority' from 11.05.03 - 28.06.04. He reported only to Rumsfeld. Naomi Klein wrote, in her Harper's study of Iraq, that his first act was to fire "500,000 state workers, most of them soldiers, but also doctors, nurses, teachers, publishers, and printers."

In January '04, A.K. Gupta pointed out that "Paul Bremer and gang have pulled off the biggest heist in history. They and no one else own 100 billion barrels of crude oil--a windfall of at least $3 trillion--along with the entire assets and resources of Iraq. " Halliburton, Bechtel and Fluor received the biggest contracts. Read here about how Bremer proceeded to fulfill the "wildest dreams of every capitalist."

By 28 June 2004, the capitalist system was in place. Greg Palast published, in October 2005, IRAQ: OPEC and the Economic Conquest of Iraq. ² He writes in more detail about the neo-cons' blueprint for oil. This document, he said, was "the brainchild of a platoon of corporate lobbyists." Their manoeuvres are brilliantly described. The plan, he says, was originally drafted before the Iraqi invasion. ³

CRUDE DESIGNS, BY GREG MUTTITT, NOVEMBER 2005

Crude Designs - The rip-off of Iraq's Oil Wealth is a report researched and written by Greg Muttitt for PLATFORM,⁴ published on 18 November 2005. In spite of the Reuters 22.11.05 article Big oil has crude designs on Iraq wealth - report and the vast implications of Crude Designs, the general public has little, if any, awareness of this American imperial oil plan. The issue was, however, discussed on the Web and in various publications.

Index Research published the following, also on 22 November: This is an extremely important document which discusses the historical background and future for oil in Iraq. The conclusion reached is that "under the influence of the US and the UK, powerful politicians in the Iraqi Oil Ministry are pushing to hand all of Iraq's underdeveloped fields to multinational oil companies, to be developed under Production Sharing Agreements." The date for this plan is in 2006, following the elections. This fixed agreement would be a disaster for Iraq. They would lose revenue, and would be denied "the ability to regulate or plan its oil industry... foreign companies' operations (would be) immune from future legislation. It's time to get this out of the secret elite drawer and into public discussion," writes Mr. Muttitt.

0n 2 December '05, William Bowles, in 'On The Road to Damascus,' asks, "so is it all about oil?" He discusses William Engdahl's book 'A Century of War - Anglo-American oil politics and the New World Order,' relating it to the present small group of wealthy individuals connected to an "equally small group of people who possess enormous political power." He asks: "to what lengths will they go in order to maintain their power?" In this, Bush and Blair are united in their pursuance of 'special interests' as well as punishment of those who protest. Crude Designs describes "the background as well as the context leading up to the invasion and occupation; the key players and their interests and connections as well as supplying a detailed analysis of the effects of the Iraqi 'government' signing away not only its one and only natural resource, oil, but in doing so, also renouncing its sovereignty and democratic control over it."

James Houle, in a dense, concise '05 article, also evaluated the 2002 policy paper, "Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Sustainable Growth." Glowing White House fantasies and their results are examined, as are the reasons for Garner's rapid demise. "Philip Carole, former CEO of Shell, then took control of Iraq's oil production on behalf of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in April 2005 and immediately stalled the whole sell-off scheme." Carole resigned after 5 months.

Chalabi and corruption then had a field day whilst insurgents increased their activity in oil fields. Rob McKee, Chairman of Enventure, a subsidiary of Halliburton, stepped firmly into the job. He had little tolerance for the neocons' threat to privatize the oil fields, and ordered the new 2003 report (323 pages), "Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry,' overseen by Amy Jaffe and guided by "a handful of oil industry consultants and executives." In June 2005, a Petroleum Law to establish PFA's was drafted, but the new constitution 'waffled' over control of oil resources. Could Kurdistan 'cut their own deals?' A Norwegian Company⁵ begins drilling in the North without approval from Baghdad. After Platform's Crude Designs was published, Houle says that the "current government in Baghdad is most anxious to negotiate PSAs quickly and without public participation or debate and without a legal framework being in place." Observers' fears are understandable. Many questions remain unanswered.

Gilles Munier, on 30 January '06, wrote: "In May 2001, the Energy Policy Development Group headed by Dick Cheney demanded that the "energy security"⁶ be a prime objective of the foreign and trade policy of the Administration. It thus provided a justification in the name of "vital interests" for the forthcoming aggression against Iraq." He discusses the Israeli /US concerns with the Kirkuk pipeline. Not enough attention is being given to this area of oil turmoil - understandable with the Sumarra bombing and chaos in Iraq at present. However, Munier's article needs reading as it brings into focus the 'terrorizing of unwanted populations' in order to secure a pipeline route. If the US succeeds in 'divide and rule,' the new Kurdish State, if it comes into being, will rank 6th in the oil industry." The Syria Destabilization Syndrome is connected to this pipeline problem. "The United States want to have an allied regime in Damascus which will ensure that the Haifa terminal is well provided in "Kurdish" oil." One then has to ask, says Munier, "whether the murder of Rafiq Hariri has something to do with oil?"

Also on January 30th, the Financial Times reported that Lucoil, Russia's biggest oil company, was "on the verge of reopening negotiations with Iraq" for an oil development contract.

Disingenuously⁷, a February Yahoo (DoD?) headline reads: US urging Iraq to develop oil "roadmap," whilst the fantasies of Imperial America fall apart - as seen clearly by Ghali Hassan in Iraq: Occupation and Sectarianism

"By now, we should realize that the Bush administration has no plan to govern Iraq nor do they care a whit about the suffering of the Iraqi people. The only thing the matters is the extraction of petroleum from Iraqi oil fields and its unobstructed transfer to the market. The rest is rubbish." Mike Whitney.

The US government has relentlessly followed its oil plan in Iraq. Following is an index of articles for those interested in the historical ‘progress’ of American imperialism in Iraq.

February 2003

Why Bush Lies About Iraq
02.02.03. John Pilger, ICH. ‘US President George Bush's plans to invade Iraq have nothing to do eliminating “weapons of mass destruction”, preventing terrorism or ending human rights abuses. An attack on Iraq will be the first phase of a pre-existing strategy to increase US control of the world's oil supplies.’

April 2003

Israel seeks pipeline for Iraqi oil
20.04.03. E. Vuillamy, Observer. US discusses plan to pump fuel to its regional ally and solve energy headache at a stroke

September 2005

Tomgram: Michael Klare on Iraq's Missing Sea of Oil
20.09.05. Tom Dispatch. 'The strangest aspect of media coverage of our invasion and occupation of Iraq involved that country's oil. ... and yet, unless you were a faithful reader of the business pages, for days, weeks, even months on end, it was impossible to find serious discussion of Iraqi oil in the mainstream media. ... just about the only discussion of Iraqi oil was restricted to the dismissal of claims by the antiwar movement that oil was either the (or a) significant factor in the invasion, a position supposedly too simpleminded to be taken seriously.'

July 2006

International oil firms ready to invest in Iraq: minister
30.07.06. AFP/Khaleez Times … “Shahristani also described a pair of laws that were now before parliament to boost the sector, including the long-awaited Iraqi investment law. "This law will allow the domestic and international private sector to invest in all fields of oil production, except for exploration and drilling for crude oil," he said. "These areas are reserved for the Iraqi state." He added that the private sector could be involved in downstream activities such as refineries and distribution of refined products, as well as petrochemicals.”

August 2006

Oil majors maneuver for prime position in Iraq
23.08.06. Reuters. The world's top oil companies are maneuvering intently to win a stake in their oilfield of choice when Iraq finally opens to multibillion dollar investment.

September 2006

Iraq to up fuel imports for 2006
05.09.06. BBC.

October 2006

Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil
17.10.06. J. Holland, Alternet / ICH. Part I: Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies (Exxon-Mobile and Chevron, the British BP-Amoco and Royal Dutch-Shell) are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as "the prize."

Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil (Part Two)
17.10.06. J. Holland, Alternet. The Bush administration has co-opted the compassionate language of debt relief to ensure that Big Oil gets its way in Iraq.

IRAQ: WHAT DOES ‘JOB DONE’ MEAN?
19.10.06. Sarah Meyer, Index Research. The soldiers will be positioned at a base in Basra ready to act to "protect the investment" made by US and British forces in the country, it was disclosed.” WHAT ‘investment’? It is important to read Mr. Holland’s well researched article (16.10, above)1, Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil

November 2006

Bush: U.S. Must Stay In Iraq To Control Oil And Protect Israel
01.11.06. Raw Story. ‘US President George Bush expressed deep concerns about the possibility of the United States leaving the Middle East, raising fears that extremists could topple governments to "control oil resources.’

Bush Says U.S. Pullout Would Let Iraq Radicals Use Oil as a Weapon
05.11.06. P. Baker, Washington Post. “During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush and his aides sternly dismissed suggestions that the war was all about oil. "Nonsense," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared. "This is not about that," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. Now, more than 3 1/2 years later, someone else is asserting that the war is about oil -- President Bush. … The slogan of "no blood for oil" became a rallying cry for antiwar activists prior to the March 2003 invasion and angered administration officials. "There are certain things like that, myths, that are floating around," Rumsfeld told Steve Kroft of CBS Radio in November 2002. "It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil."

December 2006

Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization
07.12.06. A. Juhasz, Alternet . ICH. This past July, U.S. Energy Secretary Bodman announced in Baghdad that senior U.S. oil company executives would not enter Iraq without passage of the new law. Petroleum Economist magazine later reported that U.S. oil companies put passage of the oil law before security concerns as the deciding factor over their entry into Iraq. Put simply, the oil companies are trying to get what they were denied before the war or at anytime in modern Iraqi history: access to Iraq's oil under the ground. They are also trying to get the best deal possible out of a war-ravaged and occupied nation. However, waiting for the law's passage and the need to guarantee security of U.S. firms once they get to work, may well be a key factor driving the one proposal by the Iraq Study Group that has received great media attention: extending the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq at least until 2008.

As the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group are more thoroughly considered, we should remain ever vigilant and wary of corporate war profiteers in pragmatist's clothing.

The Oil Factor in the Iraq Study Group (Interview)
13.12.06. An very important informative interview with world-renown journalist, Dahr Jamail.

Will Iraq’s Oil Blessing Become a Curse?
22.12.06. J. Gallu, Der Spiegel.

January 2007

Future of Iraq: The spoils of war
07.01.07. Fortson, Murray-Watson, Webb, Independent. How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches

Western companies may get 75% of Iraqi oil profits
08.01.07. Dow Jones Newswires.

Claiming the Prize: Bush Surge Aimed at Securing Iraqi Oil
09.01.07. Chris Floyd, ICH. the law will give Exxon, BP, Shell and other carbon cronies of the White House unprecedented sweetheart deals, allowing them to pump gargantuan profits from Iraq's nominally state-owned oilfields for decades to come.

Shock and oil: Iraq's billions & the White House connection
14.01.07. S. Foley, Independent. "The American company appointed to advise the US government on the economic reconstruction of Iraq has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican Party coffers and has admitted that its own finances are in chaos because of accounting errors and bad management. BearingPoint is fighting to restore its reputation in the US after falling more than a year behind in reporting its own financial results, prompting legal actions from its creditors and shareholders. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BearingPoint employees gave $117,000 (£60,000) to the 2000 and 2004 Bush election campaigns, more than any other Iraq contractor. ... BearingPoint is being paid $240m for its work in Iraq, winning an initial contract from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) within weeks of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. It was charged with supporting the then Coalition Provisional Authority to introduce policies "which are designed to create a competitive private sector". Its role is to examine laws, regulations and institutions that regulate trade, commerce and investment, and to advise ministries and the central bank."

The U.S. government starts laying grounds for its war on Iran. At the very moment when US/UK oil companies are preparing to sign an agreement to take Iraqi oil under their imperial wings, this story appears: Report: Iran eyeing southern Iraq's oil (16.01.07. Daily India) British military intelligence officials are concerned Iran is building its influence in the southern oil-rich Iraqi city of Basra, The Telegraph said Tuesday.

Iraq – Syria Pipeline Talks Increase
18.01.07. Earthtimes.

Iraq readies law aimed to draw investors
18.01.07. the State. Iraq's long-awaited hydrocarbons law, which could attract huge investments from foreign oil companies, has been drafted and will be submitted to the Cabinet for endorsement next week, the Oil Ministry said Thursday. Once the draft law is endorsed by the Cabinet, it will go to the parliament for final approval, said ministry spokesman Assem Jihad.

Iraq's controversial hydrocarbons law ready to be submitted for approval, oil ministry spokesman says
18.01.07. AP/IHT.

It's Still About The Oil
19.01.07. A. Juhasz, Tom Paine. For more than four years, the Bush administration and its oil company cohorts have worked toward the passage of a new oil law for Iraq that would turn its nationalized oil system over to private foreign corporate control. On Thursday, January 18, this dream came one step closer to reality when an Iraqi negotiating committee of "national and regional leaders" approved a new hydrocarbon law. The committee chair, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, told Reuters that the draft will go to the Iraqi cabinet next week and, if approved, to the parliament immediately thereafter.

Bremer’s oil plan, the Platform document and the imminent signing by US/UK oil companies which removes the oil in Iraq from Iraqi control was not discussed during The Bush Surge Scenario.

Iraq Struggles to Finish Oil Law
24.01.07. Washington Post. Despite the immense risks of working in Iraq -- pipeline explosions, kidnappings, insurgency, political infighting -- the oil company executives were lured by the potential rewards, which are immense, too. Outside Saudi Arabia, no country has proven oil reserves as big as Iraq's. … "Exxon Mobil has more seismic data on Iraq than on Houston real estate," … If Exxon had security on the ground, the following day it would have crews there," Gheit said. "And money would be no object." … Outstanding issues include how much oil revenue will go to the central government.

Iraq Pipeline Watch

Feburary 2007

Back on Capitol Hill, Bremer Is Facing a Cooler Reception.
06.02.07. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post. Republicans to Join Democrats in Criticizing Decisions in Iraq. ‘When Bremer returns to Capitol Hill today to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he will receive a far less effusive reception than he did in September 2003. The now-ruling Democrats plan to pounce on him for disbanding Iraq's army, firing many members of the Baath Party, hiring GOP loyalists and not fully accounting for the spending of billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenue.’ See more on Mr. Bremer here, in a Guardian article by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Before the formal handover to the Iraqis, Paul Bremer, the US viceroy in Baghdad, insisted the country was 'fundamentally changed for the better' by the occupation. But assassinations, car bombs and attacks on the country's oil supply told a different story.

US Military Oil Pains.
17.02.07. Sohbet Karbuz, Energy Bulletin. U.S. Military Is The Largest Consumer Of Oil On Earth : The US military is completely addicted to oil. Unsurprisingly, its oil consumption for aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities makes the Pentagon the single largest oil consumer in the world. By the way, according to the 2006 CIA World Factbook rankings there are only 35 countries (out of 210) in the world that consume more oil per day than the Pentagon

IRAQ'S NEW OIL LAW
The New Iraqi Oil Law: Leaked
19.02.07. Raed Jarrar, ICH. Raed Jarrar has translated the leaked copy of the Iraqi oil law, which can be downloaded. "It's important to start a stronger debate and to try to educate Iraqis and Americans about this catastrophic law that will facilitate the further looting of Iraqi oil, and will achieve nothing other than increasing the levels of violence and anger in Iraq.
This law legalizes PSAs (production sharing agreements) in Iraq. Iraq will be the only country in the middle east with such contracts privatising Iraqi oil and giving foreign companies crazy rates of profit that may reach to more than three fourth of the general revenue. .."

Iraq oil law goes to cabinet for approval.
19.02.07. The Jurist.

New Iraq Oil Law To Open Iraq's Oil Reserves to Western Companies.
20.02.07. Democracy Now. Amy Goodman: Raed Jarrar in discussion with Antonia Juhasz.

Oil Grab in Iraq.
22.02.07. A. Juhasz, R. Jarrar, Foreign Pplicy in Review. A new Iraqi law proposes to open the country’s currently nationalized oil system to foreign corporate control. But emblematic of the flawed promotion of “democracy” by the Bush administration, this new law is news to most Iraqi politicians.

Scramble for Iraq's oil begins as troops start to pull out.
23.02.07. S. Shah, Independent. We are about to find out if the invasion of Iraq really was a war for oil. The country is on the verge of passing a petroleum law, which will set down rules for investing in its oil industry. That will set off a race among the foreign oil giants, scrambling for their slice of Iraq's vast oil riches.

Oil bonanza stays in Western sights after cosmetic change to Iraqi deals.
25.02.07. T. Webb, Independent. The final draft of Iraq's controversial hydrocarbons law has been submitted to the Iraqi Cabinet ahead of its presentation to Parliament for ratification next month. The final draft has quietly dropped the term "production-sharing contracts" used in earlier drafts. These contracts involve energy companies paying for the initial investment in an oil field but reaping bigger returns if their gamble pays off. The proposed introduction of production-sharing agreements in Iraq is controversial because they are usually used in challenging regions where oil is difficult and expensive to access, such as the Amazon. By contrast, much of Iraq's 112 billion barrels of proven oil reserves - the second-largest in the world - has already been discovered and is cheap to drill.... But the draft, seen exclusively by The Independent on Sunday, still proposes handing over exploration and production contracts for up to 32 years - far longer than most deals between companies and goveernments.

Iraq poised to hand control of oil fields to foreign firms
25.02.07. H. Stewart, Observer. 'a leaked draft of the oil law, seen by The Observer, would see the government sign away the right to exploit its untapped fields in so-called exploration contracts, which could then be extended for more than 30 years.'

Allies pressure Iraq to hand over oil
26.02.07. new zealand herald. Baghdad is under pressure from Britain and the United States to pass an oil law which would hand long-term control of Iraq's energy assets to foreign multinationals, according to campaigners.

Iraqi Cabinet Approves Draft Oil Law
26.02.07. Guardian. It was unclear when 275-member parliament will vote on the measure. The legislature reconvenes early next month.

Troubles for the Iraq oil deal
28.02.07. Guardian.

The Roving Eye
28.02.07. Pepe Escobar. U.S.'s Iraq oil is a done deal. "By 2010 we will need [a further] 50 million barrels a day. The Middle East, with two-thirds of the oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize lies."- US Vice President Dick Cheney, then Halliburton chief executive officer, London, autumn 1999

March 2007

China oil officials due in Baghdad for Ahdab talks
05.03.07. NBC

Sunni clerics group attacks Iraq's draft oil law
06.03.07. Reuters/uruknet. The law sets out how oil revenues will be divided among the population and regulates how foreign companies will be able to invest in exploration and production.

Is Big Oil going to Control Iraq’s Reserves?
06.03.07. C. Parenti, The Nation / Alternet.

War is a Disaster - An Oil Shortage is Not
06.03.07. N. Allonby, ICH. The only visible reason for the US oil obsession is the military-industrial-political complex. The US military is the world’s 4th largest consumer of oil - consuming more than many countries (6). The US needs to maintain a strong domestic oil industry to service its military. The history of the oil industry in Iran is that it was originally developed for military reasons - to fuel the British Royal Navy.

It's STILL The Oil; Secret Condi Meeting on OIl Before The Invasion
11.03.07. G. Palast, ICH. 'we’ve learned that, despite protestations to the contrary, Condoleezza Rice held a secret meeting with the former Secretary-General of OPEC, Fadhil Chalabi, an Iraqi, and offered Chalabi the job of Oil Minister for Iraq. (It is well established that the President of the United States may appoint the cabinet ministers of another nation if that appointment is confirmed by the 101st Airborne.)'

Whose Oil Is It, Anyway?
13.03.07. A. Juhsatz, NY Times. 'Since the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has been aggressive in shepherding the oil law toward passage. It is one of the president’s benchmarks for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a fact that Mr. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Gen. William Casey, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and other administration officials are publicly emphasizing with increasing urgency. ... Iraq’s five trade union federations, representing hundreds of thousands of workers, released a statement opposing the law and rejecting “the handing of control over oil to foreign companies, which would undermine the sovereignty of the state and the dignity of the Iraqi people.” They ask for more time, less pressure and a chance at the democracy they have been promised.'

Shell plans gas pipeline venture in Iraq
14.03.07. C. Mortished, Times on Line.

The rape of Iraq's oil
22.03.07. Michael Meacher, Guardian. The Baghdad government has caved in to a damaging plan that will enrich western companies.

Mystery of the Missing Meters:Accounting for Iraq's Oil Revenue
22.03.07. P. Chatterjee, Corpwatch. How much crude oil is Iraq actually exporting? Nobody really knows how much is
potentially being stolen by corrupt officials because the contractors in charge of fixing the meters have yet to calibrate them, four years after the invasion.

Review of teach-in organised by Hands off Iraqi Oil Coalition
29.03.07. Tahir Swift, Arab Media Watch. 'Dozens of people took part in a teach-in organised by the Hands off Iraqi Oil Coalition on the 24 March 2007 in Union Chapel, London. A press release the previous month launched a coalition of organisations (*) to campaign against the introduction of an oil law which was approved by the Iraqi Council of Ministers on 26 February 2007 and is currently in front of parliament. The law will basically facilitate the daytime robbery of Iraqi oil, as the speakers at this event stated.' Greg Muttitt (PLATFORM) was one of the speakers.

George Bush’s Land Mine
30.03.07. Richard Behan, Common Dreams. If the Iraqi People Get Revenue Sharing, They Lose Their Oil to Exxon. George Bush has a land mine planted in the supplemental appropriation legislation working its way through Congress. - He threatens a veto, but he might well be bluffing. Buried deep in the legislation and intentionally obscured is a near-guarantee of success for the Bush Administration's true objective of the war-capturing Iraq's oil-and George Bush will not casually forego that.

April 2007

Iraqi Oil Belongs To The Iraqi People
03.04.07. Nancy Wohlforth & Fred Mason, Common Dreams / Countercurrents. 'Giving credence to Iraqis’ fears, a new Petroleum Law will be presented to the Iraqi Parliament that, if enacted, will put effective control of Iraq’s vast oil resources in the hands of foreign companies. Nationalized since 1975, Iraq’s oil was, before the years of sanctions and the invasion, the foundation for a relatively high standard of living, producing more PhD’s per capita than the U.S. and a health care system prized as the best in the region.'

Flow Charter: 'Anti-War' Democrats Give Bush Victory on a Platter
04.04.07. Chris Floyd, uruknet. 'The oil men of the Bush administration are trying to set up one of the biggest swindles in history--the great Iraq oil robbery. The cabinet of the new Iraqi government--under pressure from the U.S. occupiers who put them in power--approved a law that would undo Iraq's nationalized system and give Western oil giants unparalleled access to the country's vast reserves. The oil companies would be guaranteed super-profits--on a scale unknown anywhere else in the Middle East-! -for a period of 20 to 35 years from oil pumped out of two-thirds or more of Iraq's oilfields. Meanwhile, Iraqis would continue to endure poverty and the devastation of war while sitting atop what is estimated to be the third-largest supply of the world's most sought-after resource.'

Chevron confirmed as key sponsor of Iraq Oil, Gas, Petrochemical & Electricity Summit
13.04.07. Albawaba. Chevron has confirmed its role as a sponsor of the forthcoming Iraq Oil, Gas, Petrochemical & Electricity Summit, which will take place on 28-30 May 2007.
The summit has been organised to bring together key Iraq Government decision makers in the energy sector and international operators seeking partnership opportunities in both the upstream and downstream industry. (Condi Rice has been intimately associated with Chevron).

Iraq draft oil law going before parliament next week: minister
18.04.07. The Jurist.

Iraq's oil reserves could be almost double current estimates: report
19.04.07. PETROLEUM WORLD. "Geologically, it's right up there, a gold star opportunity." ( for WHOM ?)

Gates Urges Iraq To Pass Key Laws by Late Summer
20.04.07. ANDREW GRAY, REUTERS/Defense news / legitgov. Gates, on his first visit since the push started in February, urged Iraqi leaders to pass laws on sharing Iraq’s oil wealth and rolling back a ban on members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from office by late summer.

A slippery business
23.04.07. A.G. Noorani, Hinustani Times/legitgov. ‘More than three-quarters of the world’s oil is owned and controlled by the State. Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have nationalised oil systems and bar foreign control over oil development. Foreign companies are hired only to provide specific services, for limited terms. They are given no direct interest in the oil produced. Iraq’s oil resources are estimated to be the second largest in the world. The draft Iraqi oil law would all but privatise Iraq’s oil industry under the cloak of “production-sharing agreements”.

Iraq’s five trade union federations, representing hundreds of thousands of workers, oppose the law. It would entail “the handing of control over oil to foreign companies, which would undermine the sovereignty of the State and the dignity of the people”. On February 8, they wrote to President Jalal Talbani asking him not to assent to the law. “Production-sharing agreements are a relic of the 1960s. They will imprison Iraq’s economy and infringe on Iraq’s sovereignty... We warn against falling into this trap.”

Iran's popular Prime Minister Mohammad Moasddeq was toppled by the US and Britain in 1953 after he nationalised the oil industry. With the oil law, the rape of Iraq will be complete.’

Russia steps in for her share of Iraq's oil
Moscow backs Luckoil Iraq project
24.04.07. Financial Times.

Iraqi Oil Min Warns Companies Against Deals Bypassing Central Govt
26.04.07. rigzone.com.

Stealing from the Poor and Giving to the Rich
27.04.07. Ramsey Baroud, ICH. The plundering of Iraq's wealth, first by the UN and now by Iraq's new Green Zone czars, is the biggest, most shameful financial-political scandal of our times.

Analysis: Fight rages over Iraq oil law
27.04.07. B. Lando, Earth Times.

May 2007

Iraq says U.S.-backed oil law sent to parliament
02.05.07. Alertnet. The [Iraqi government] has sent to parliament a landmark draft oil law, the oil minister said on Wednesday, a major step towards meeting one of the political benchmarks Washington has set for Baghdad. . Parliamentary officials, however, said they were unaware the bill had been submitted to the legislature. . The draft law, crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's vast reserves would be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups, was passed by cabinet in February and hailed at the time by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as a pillar of Iraqi unity.

Iraqi Blocs Opposed to Draft Oil Bill
02.05.07. NY Times/legitgov. Kurdish and Sunni Arab officials expressed deep reservations on Wednesday about the draft version of a national oil law and related legislation, misgivings that could derail one of the benchmark measures of progress in Iraq laid down by President Bush

Row over Iraq oil
05.05.07. Aljazeera. A draft law being considered by the Iraqi parliament would enable US companies to take control of Iraq's oil industry, oil experts in the country say. The proposed bill, approved by the Iraqi government in February after months of wrangling, opens the country's oil sector to foreign investors 35 years after it was nationalised. "The law is designed for the benefit of US oil companies," Ramzy Salman, an Iraqi economist who worked for the Iraqi oil ministry for 30 years, said. "If approved, it would take things back to where they were before the nationalisation of Iraq's oil in 1972."

Kucinich Reveals Dem Funding Bill Includes Privatization of Iraq Oil & Carte Blanche to Invade Iran
06.05.07. J. Caldwell, American Chronicle / ICH. Dennis Kucinich revealed that the Democrats in Congress had made some secret concessions to the Republicans in the initial Bill to continue funding the Iraq War that was vetoed, and in a subsequent version that is currently being negotiated.

Tomgram: Michael Schwartz, The Prize of Iraqi Oil
06.05.07. Tom Dispatch. ‘The struggle over Iraqi oil has been going on for a long, long time. … It seems clear that what the oil law has the power to do is substantially escalate the already unmanageable conflict in Iraq .’

Iraq Oil Law: In Whose Interest?
08.05.07. Raed Jarrar, Electronic Iraq. 'A draft of a new oil law is working its way through Iraq's parliamentary process. An earlier draft, in English, was leaked in mid-2006, shocking a number of specialists. Among them was Erik Leaver of the institute for Policy Studies, who spotted language matching exactly that of a previously leaked seminar paper produced by a private contracting company called Bearing Point .

Iraq oil workers set to strike over law
08.05.07. Earthtimes. Most of Iraq's oil production and all of its exports are likely to stop Thursday as its oil union threatens to strike in protest of the draft oil law.

Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation
09.05.07. R. Jarrar / J. Holland, Alternet. The US media ignored the story.

Cheney Makes Unannounced Visit to Iraq
09.05.07. AP/Guardian. The meeting with the vice president paved a foundation for practical steps to support our efforts working on both the security front as well as the *domestic political issues ,'' said al-Maliki in a joint news conference with Cheney. (*Is this a euphuism for OIL? )

NB: Why Cheney Failed. Martin Sieff writes (09.05.07) "Cheney's failure to make any headway with Maliki on oil revenue sharing (stalled for more than a year) and the continuing effectiveness of the insurgents both stem from the same basic failure of the U.S. grand strategy on Iraq. The convoluted and ambitious democratic process that the United States painstakingly put into place to secure the election of the current Iraqi Parliament and the Maliki government did the opposite of what it was intended to do.'

VIDEOS

Video Why We Are In Iraq Jim Hightower.

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers
and
Iraq for Sale: Banned Excerpts

Video Oil Fire in Rumaylah Oil Fields

Footnotes

[1] After St. Jerome. Called "New Canaan's Pontius Pilot" by William Collins
[2] Palast article originally in Harpers, October 24 2005
[3] See Last Throes of Credibility: Five Years of Lies and Deception
[4] with Global Policy Forum, Institute for Policy Studies (New Internationalism Project), New Economics Foundation and Oil Change International and War on Want.
[5] Norwegian Bourse Director wants oil bourse - priced in euros
[6] Munier's italics
[7] OED: "morally fraudulent"

Photo: Centcom

Video
Why we are at war in the Middle East? . John Perkins, author of 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man', discusses, from a hit mans perspective, the reasons and background to why we are at war in the Middle East. 21 minutes.

The url to Index Timeline on the Iraq Oil Crunch is : http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/iraq-oil-crunch-index-timeline.html
A shorter url is : http://tinyurl.com/28cef9

UPDATES

Please see: Iraq Oil: Vultures are Waiting (03.09.07) for resource material starting from the end of this article. Thank you.