Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Real Gem


If you wonder why our oil POTUS and his Vice POTUS can't seem to understand what is happening in Iraq, it's because they do understand.

It Is the Oil.

And if you wonder why the Sunnis fight so hard for western Iraq,

It Is the Oil.

And if you wonder why we have made such a mess of the War, allowing and perhaps inducing civil war between the various religious factions,

It Is the Oil.

Here is a part of the story from an AlterNet article by Joshua Holland.

Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil

Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as "the prize."

By Joshua Holland
10/18/06 "
AlterNet"

Iraq is sitting on a mother lode of some of the lightest, sweetest, most profitable crude oil on earth, and the rules that will determine who will control it and on what terms are about to be set.

The Iraqi government faces a December deadline, imposed by the world's wealthiest countries, to complete its final oil law. Industry analysts expect that the result will be a radical departure from the laws governing the country's oil-rich neighbors, giving foreign multinationals a much higher rate of return than with other major oil producers and locking in their control over what George Bush called Iraq's "patrimony" for decades, regardless of what kind of policies future elected governments might want to pursue.

Iraq's energy reserves are an incredibly rich prize. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, "Iraq contains 112 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the second largest in the world (behind Saudi Arabia), along with roughly 220 billion barrels of probable and possible resources. Iraq's true potential may be far greater than this, however, as the country is relatively unexplored due to years of war and sanctions." For perspective, the Saudis have 260 billion barrels of proven reserves.

Iraqi oil is close to the surface and easy to extract, making it all the more profitable. James Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Forum, points out that oil companies "can produce a barrel of Iraqi oil for less than $1.50 and possibly as little as $1, including all exploration, oilfield development and production costs." Contrast that with other areas where oil is considered cheap to produce at $5 per barrel or the North Sea, where production costs are $12-16 per barrel.

(snip)

But the real gem -- what one oil consultant called the "Holy Grail" of the industry -- lies in Iraq's vast western desert. It's one of the last "virgin" fields on the planet, and it has the potential to catapult Iraq to No. 1 in the world in oil reserves. Sparsely populated, the western fields are less prone to sabotage than the country's current centers of production in the north, near Kirkuk, and in the south near Basra.

The Nation's Aram Roston predicts Iraq's western desert will yield "untold riches."

snip

Both independent analysts and officials within Iraq's Oil Ministry anticipate that when all is said and done, the big winners in Iraq will be the Big Four -- the American firms Exxon-Mobile and Chevron, the British BP-Amoco and Royal Dutch-Shell -- that dominate the world oil market.

Ibrahim Mohammed, an industry consultant with close contacts in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, told the Associated Press that there's a universal belief among ministry staff that the major U.S. companies will win the lion's share of contracts. "The feeling is that the new government is going to be influenced by the United States," he said." more

It is rather telling that the facts of our invasion of Iraq have been so twisted and and that the US occupation of that country has been so tortured. The scene was set when the US troops entered Baghdad and immediatelty deployed to the the Oil Ministry, leaving the Antiquities Museum to be looted.

The leadership of the United States was formerly employed

by the oil and gas sector.

And they have their War.

And they will have their Gem.

No matter that the oil should not be burned at all

because of Climate Change.

No matter that a half million Iraqis have been butchered in the process.

No matter that as many soldiers have been lost in this war

as civilians on 9/11.

No matter that the American Treasury has been looted

of perhaps 2 trillion dollars.

The "Big 4" have their Gem.

Yes, this POTUS represents his Constituents well.

All Four of them.

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2 Comments:

Blogger oZ said...

I made a small change to the post late in the afternoon.

4:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

good post though always disturbing when the actual facts are disclosed

i like the 4 constituent ending

10:19 AM  

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