BushCo's Covert Attempt to Force Iraq Into Giving Up 87% of Its Oil

There is a benchmark in the Warner amendment that will keep our troops in Iraq indefinitely.  This benchmark  insists that the Iraq's government pass a hydrocarbon act -- an "oil law" that  is supposedly about the equitable sharing of  oil revenues.  But this proposed oil law comes in the form of a thirty-three-page document that's all about the restructuring of the Iraq oil industry so as to permit multinational oil corporations to take over 80% of Iraq's oil.  This is a criminal action that is going on here, right under our noses, and we ought to be standing up against it and challenging it.  The US has no right to take Iraq's oil or to facilitate the acquisition of (or profits from) Iraq's oil for multinational corporations, i.e.  "Big Oil" (Exxon, Shell, et. al.)

You have to keep in mind that this process that the Bush administration has been pushing began even before the invasion of Iraq.  V.P. Cheney was meeting with oil companies, looking at how they could, essentially, create a beachhead in the Middle East, and they have been looking at the prize of Iraq oil for many years now. 

And so, you have to remember that even though it looks like this "oil law" legislation isn't going anywhere, there is enormous pressure being put on the Iraqi parliament, behind the scenes, and you can bet that before too long they'll put the kind of pressure on them that will cause them to comply.  Parliament will relent, and go ahead and pass this law that will permit about 80% of its oil to be controlled by multinational oil companies.  Now, keep in mind that Iraq has as many as 300 billion barrels of oil.  At a market price that looks like it's going toward $70-a-barrel, you can be talking about $21 trillion worth of oil, 80% of which will be under the control of multinational oil companies, if it's up to the Bush administration. 

This is literally a crime.  And so, Kucinich is challenging it.  He says it's the basis for a war crime charge.  The White House and Democratic- led Congress are helping oil companies grab a stake in Iraq's vast oil fields while claiming to be interested merely in winding down the Iraq war.  And John Q. Public is, for the most part, none the wiser. 

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/24/143225

If the proposed oil law passes, then whoever is contracted to extract the oil gets to keep whatever they can pull out of the ground, 100% of it.  Their only costs would be the 12.5% royalty they have to pay to the Iraqi government, plus the oil operational costs of taking the oil out of the ground (which costs are among the lowest in the world due to the fact that the oil in Iraq is so close to the surface).  As the oil is removed, a count is kept of how many barrels are being taken, and a royalty must be paid to the Iraqi Oil Ministry that equals 12.5% of the value of the oil that's taken. 

It should be noted that 12.5% comprises a notoriously small cut for the Iraqis.  Other countries with plenty of oil get to keep anywhere between 50% and 80% of monetary value of the oil that is pumped by foreign oil companies.  But 12.5% is the deal that BushCo is quietly trying to ram down the throats of the Iraqis. 

No wonder the insurgency is trying to drive the US Army out of their country!

Iraq imposes 'Saddam style' ban on oil union.  Public campaign against the signing of a controversial new oil law -- demanded by Washington -- that would lead to long-term profit-sharing contracts being signed with multinational oil giants. 

Heather Stewart, economics editor

Sunday August 5, 2007

The Observer (U.K.)

Iraq's energy ministry is using a Saddam-era decree to crack down on trade unions and stifle dissent against foreign exploitation of the country's vast oil reserves, the Basra-based oil workers' union claims. 

Hassan Juma'a, the union's leader, has been at the forefront of a public campaign against the signing of a controversial new oil law -- demanded by Washington -- that would lead to long-term profit-sharing contracts being signed with multinational oil giants. 

But Hussein Shahrastani, Iraq's oil minister, has now issued a directive banning unions from participating in any official discussions about the new law, 'since these unions have no legal status to work within the state sector'. 

Juma'a said the minister's approach echoed an infamous law passed by Saddam Hussein in 1987 -- the so-called 'Article 150' -- suppressing trades unions.  He insisted this weekend that his members would not recognize the directive, saying 'we are working for Iraq'. 

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