Iraq...Mission Accomplished(Finally)!!!

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deleted15807

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Big Oil Firms Ready to Sign Agreements With Iraq
Two-Year, No-Bid Contracts Aimed at Boosting Production


[SIZE=-1]By Ernesto Londoño and Simone Baribeau[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Washington Post Foreign Service[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Friday, June 20, 2008; A12[/SIZE]

BAGHDAD, June 19 -- Iraq is preparing to award contracts to several Western energy companies to help develop its vast oil resources, allowing them to consolidate their positions in a country that has seemed less threatening in recent months as security has improved.

The two-year, no-bid contracts will be awarded to companies that have been advising the Iraqi Oil Ministry in recent years, said Asim Jihad, a spokesman for the ministry. He said officials expect that U.S.-based Exxon Mobil and Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, France's Total and British oil company BP will secure the biggest contracts.

"We have had discussions since last year" regarding deals that would formalize the advisory role some of them are already playing, Jihad said. "The discussions have now ended."

The contracts will be presented to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet for approval in coming days and could be announced by the end of the month, Jihad said. He added that more than 30 contracts will be signed but declined to describe their scope or provide other details.

He said the Iraqi government informed oil companies several months ago of its needs. Subsequent negotiations led to the contracts, which would allow the government to step up efforts to increase production while legislation setting guidelines for foreign investment in the oil sector remains deadlocked in parliament.

The contracts would expand relationships between the Iraqi government and the energy giants, which have eyed the country's oil fields with interest and apprehension since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Some companies have been working with the ministry under memorandums of understanding.

While the contracts would limit the companies' role to infrastructure refurbishment and technical support, the agreements would also position the firms for future deals in Iraq that could include exploration and drilling.
The impending signing of the contracts, which was reported in the New York Times on Thursday, comes as members of Iraq's parliament remain at loggerheads over legislation to regulate the country's oil reserves.

Iraq's largest oil fields are in the heavily Shiite south and predominantly Kurdish areas in the north. Parliament members and leaders have argued over whether oil revenue should be distributed evenly across the country or whether oil-rich provinces should be entitled to a larger share.

They also have squabbled over the role foreign companies should play in Iraq, particularly whether they should be given licenses to drill.

A higher-profile role for Western companies in Iraq's oil industry is likely to revive speculation that the Iraq war was motivated by a desire to tap into reserves that were controlled by foreigners until the 1960s, when the industry was nationalized. The belief is widespread in the Arab world.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said the U.S. government played no role in securing the deals. She called the impending contracts a sign that security gains are attracting foreign investment in Iraq.

"It demonstrates that the private sector is beginning to get interested in Iraq, that it recognizes the tremendous potential for Iraq to become an even more major oil supplier," Rice told Fox News. "That's really a good sign, and it will be a good sign if Iraq can increase its oil production, because of course the supply and demand of oil is a major concern to all of us."

Iraq's oil reserves are among the largest in the world, but years of economic sanctions, war and political turmoil have taken a toll on the industry. During the first few months of this year, output reached 2 million barrels a day. Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister, told parliament this year that output could more than double within five years.

Officials at some of the oil companies that are expected to sign contracts issued muted statements.

A spokeswoman for Exxon Mobil, regarded as one of the most risk-adverse players in the industry, said the company would be interested in working in Iraq.

Toby Odone, a BP spokesman, said the company has been providing technical assistance to Iraq for years and is formalizing its role in the country.

Shell spokesman Adam Newton said that the company is negotiating "service agreements" with the Iraqi Oil Ministry but that the details are confidential.

Total spokesman Kevin Church confirmed that the company is discussing its future role in West Qurna, one of Iraq's largest oil fields in the south.

Large energy companies have in recent years lost ground in oil-rich countries such as Russia and Venezuela, as governments have tightened their control over the industry.

Manouchehr Takin, a senior analyst at the London-based Center for Global Energy Studies, said the names of the companies negotiating contracts is not surprising.

"They're the big international companies," he said. "They're qualified and experienced."

Baribeau reported from Washington. Special correspondent Dalya Hassan in Baghdad and staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington contributed to this report.
 
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1BiGG1

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Still trying to figure out why this is newsworthy! Did anybody really think the people of Iraq would not be pumping oil from their oil rich country or something? :rolleyes:

What’s the problem, are some people offended Saddam is not still in charge breaking his surrender agreement in every way possible including the oil-for-food scam he had going with the French/Russians?
 

1BiGG1

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It's the rotten stench coming from the no bids tender that has some people's hackles raised.

So is it the same people that are whining about the US/UK being in Iraq and demanding we pull out immediately that are whining about the Iraqi Government making deals with whoever they want to make deals with?
 

Deno

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Come on now, what do you think. Have then just been sitting on this oil for what 7 years, Have they been using it for sun screen. I don't get what is news about selling oil no matter who they sell it too. At least its still not buring away the way Sadam left it.
 

jason_els

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And all for the bargain price of 4,101 dead allied personnel, tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, over a trillion dollars, and a resurgent nuclear Iran!

Quite the red tag sale no? Or is that toe tag sale? Haha! I'm sure all the oil allied companies suck out of the ground will more than compensate for it all! Why develop domestic and alternative energy when foreign oil costs so little?? Damn environmentalist whackos! Thank heaven the oil companies themselves didn't have to pay for all this. Aunt Minnie in Florida might not have seen such fat dividend checks these past few years and we all know how attached she is to her Suburban.
 
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deleted15807

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And all for the bargain price of 4,101 dead allied personnel, tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, over a trillion dollars, and a resurgent nuclear Iran!

Quite the red tag sale no? Or is that toe tag sale? Haha! I'm sure all the oil allied companies suck out of the ground will more than compensate for it all! Why develop domestic and alternative energy when foreign oil costs so little?? Damn environmentalist whackos! Thank heaven the oil companies themselves didn't have to pay for all this. Aunt Minnie in Florida might not have seen such fat dividend checks these past few years and we all know how attached she is to her Suburban.

Maybe we can tint the oil red to remind people the true cost of the sweet light crude?
 

jason_els

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Maybe we can tint the oil red to remind people the true cost of the sweet light crude?

No.... too many people would never see it.

I suggest a short mini-biography presented on the infotainment screen. Each person injured or killed will have a quick 30 second biography played every time the car is started. Photographs of the person, when available, will be displayed for the entire trip.
 
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deleted15807

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No.... too many people would never see it.

I suggest a short mini-biography presented on the infotainment screen. Each person injured or killed will have a quick 30 second biography played every time the car is started. Photographs of the person, when available, will be displayed for the entire trip.

Indeed. We can have it displayed AT THE PUMP right after the credit card swipe.
 
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deleted15807

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Still trying to figure out why this is newsworthy! Did anybody really think the people of Iraq would not be pumping oil from their oil rich country or something? :rolleyes:

Why can't people connect-the-dots? Simply because they don't want to.

Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

By Dana Milbank and Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A01

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.

Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

And now what a shock!! They get a NO BID contract in Iraq.
 
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mikeyh9in

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It is naive to think that this was not the primary mission of the Iraq occupation (that is exactly what it is) in the first place.

Thank God none of the 4000+ Americans dead were from the rich, upper class oil families that get to profit from this plan. No, the American soldiers are primarily from the Heartland believing Bush's Bullshit about how it's for "America." Well, it is for his America.

Not to mention the hundred's of thousands of innocent Irag's we slaughtered as acceptable collateral damage.

ALL evidence shows that Bush/Cheney LIED to the American people. They are traitors to this country and should be tried and punished.

And don't give me the BS about "everyone thought he had WMDs"... bullshit... a lot of people asked for more evidence... including the weapon inspectors on the ground in Iraq.

-Mike
 
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deleted15807

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It is naive to think that this was not the primary mission of the Iraq occupation (that is exactly what it is) in the first place.

Thank God none of the 4000+ Americans dead were from the rich, upper class oil families that get to profit from this plan. No, the American soldiers are primarily from the Heartland believing Bush's Bullshit about how it's for "America." Well, it is for his America.

Not to mention the hundred's of thousands of innocent Iraq's we slaughtered as acceptable collateral damage.

ALL evidence shows that Bush/Cheney LIED to the American people. They are traitors to this country and should be tried and punished.

And don't give me the BS about "everyone thought he had WMDs"... bullshit... a lot of people asked for more evidence... including the weapon inspectors on the ground in Iraq.

-Mike

Of course. Remember how the conservatives trashed Hans Blix the UN Weapons Inspector? Slimmed him good.

"There were about 700 inspections, and in no case did we find weapons of mass destruction," said Hans Blix, the Swedish diplomat called out of retirement to serve as the United Nations' chief weapons inspector from 2000 to 2003

his work in Iraq was cut short when the United States and the United Kingdom took disarmament into their own hands in March of last year.

U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix faults Bush Administration for lack of "critical thinking" in Iraq
 

jason_els

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It is naive to think that this was not the primary mission of the Iraq occupation (that is exactly what it is) in the first place.

Thank God none of the 4000+ Americans dead were from the rich, upper class oil families that get to profit from this plan. No, the American soldiers are primarily from the Heartland believing Bush's Bullshit about how it's for "America." Well, it is for his America.

Not to mention the hundred's of thousands of innocent Irag's we slaughtered as acceptable collateral damage.

ALL evidence shows that Bush/Cheney LIED to the American people. They are traitors to this country and should be tried and punished.

And don't give me the BS about "everyone thought he had WMDs"... bullshit... a lot of people asked for more evidence... including the weapon inspectors on the ground in Iraq.

-Mike

Amen. I have fantasies of the next president ordering their arrest immediately after the inauguration but I'm not holding my breath. There will be placating Greek choruses of, "Let's move on! It's over!" excusing the whole fiasco.