China Used Bush to Obtain Iraqi Oil Contracts
China's state-owned oil group, CNPC, has already agreed a $3bn (£1.78bn) oil services contract with the government of Iraq to pump oil from the Ahdab oil field.
The deal is the first major oil contract with a foreign firm since the US-led war and was followed up by an agreement with Shell, potentially worth $4bn, to develop a joint venture with the South Gas Company in Basra.
I don't know why Ieven bother to read the US press anymore, all of the good stuff is in the UK and European news sites. I don't think I saw a single mention of this in the MSM today, but maybe I missed while trying to figure out the new TPM (which is a very good improvement, by the way).
Iraqi government fuels 'war for oil' theories by putting reserves up for biggest ever sale
OK, so my title is my own interpretation of the story, but regardless, it's a pretty clear-cut, slam dunk of a mission accomplished sort of watershed event. A bit more:
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.
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.
Now why would anyone think that? So let me get this straight: Bush funded this war in a large part on huge, cheap loans from China, our men and women in uniform do all of the work to seize the country, then China takes the profit from their loans to the US, not to mention all of the cheap goods produced by slave labor that they sell us through Wal-Mart, and then scoops up the choice oil contracts to send the crude flowing in their direction? Maybe I'm delusional here?
Read that in the Guardian today. I'm not sure, but you may be missing the punchline. Note which firms were invited to the meeting to distribute the 40 billion barrels - BP, Shell and ExxonMobil. China's not listed. I suspect the earlier, much smaller deal, was to ensure a slice for China, perhaps to gain other benefits from them, and to help make it look less obvious. IF these 3 are the main players, the West will do quite well.
That said, the American press has been worthless these past XX years. Completely insular, completely constrained in what it will consider. I read the US papers & they whine about how the US is having to put up all the cash - after hundreds of billions were already thrown in the pot by other Central Banks. Today, the Europeans (remember, they're the weak, sclerotic, fragmented, slow ones, in our version) put up over $3 Trillion - more than 4 times the US package.
Think we're gonna hear about that? Will there be one single word of thanks for these "Allies"? (Other than from Krugman.) And how much coverage do you see of the $700 Billion ANNUAL trade deficit, which either gets fixed - fast - or the US bleeds out? Nadadip.
American Media? Head. Up. Ass.
October 14, 2008 3:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just another reason why you shouldn't buy at Wal-Mart.
But people are pennywise and pound foolish. Just like it is illustrated here.
October 14, 2008 4:13 AM | Reply | Permalink