Randall Parker wrote:
You might think that at least American capitalist oil companies will make massive fortunes off of the trillions of dollars the United States wasted invading and occupying Iraq. But no. US oil companies got no long term oil contracts in the latest round of bidding for oil service contracts in Iraq.I for one expected the cartoon result.
Those who claim that the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 to get control of the country's giant oil reserves will be left scratching their heads by the results of last weekend's auction of Iraqi oil contracts: Not a single U.S. company secured a deal in the auction of contracts that will shape the Iraqi oil industry for the next couple of decades. Two of the most lucrative of the multi-billion-dollar oil contracts went to two countries which bitterly opposed the U.S. invasion — Russia and China — while even Total Oil of France, which led the charge to deny international approval for the war at the U.N. Security Council in 2003, won a bigger stake than the Americans in the most recent auction.
The winners didn't even win much. The companies that did win contracts will get pretty measly fees per barrel of oil they manage to produce.
Russia's Lukoil, CNPC, and RoyalDutchShell accepted fees of between $1.15 and $1.40 for every barrel they produce — that's about 2% of Friday's oil futures price of $73 a barrel.
12 comments:
IIRC the Iraqi economy was worth less than USD40 billion per year when George Bush invaded. Compared to what the Americans had and will continue to spend on the war the entire Iraqi output is small beer. Nonetheless we had the leftist and Islamic pundits piously assuring us that it was all about oil. The morons' narrative had it that that George Bush is a devious oilman itching to get the Iragi fields for his mentor Dick Cheney of Haliburton. Yet somehow he couldn't figure out that he could make the same sweetheart deals that everyone from the French, Russians and Kofi Annan's son cut with Saddam Hussain.
The idea that is it was all about the oiiil was always a leftist canard so it's not at all surprising that it was totally false - leftists lie to advance their cause or give the wrong (ideological) analysis to just about every possible situation.
Of course it was about oil in a larger sense - if Saddam had not been deposed his long term plan (or at least desire) was to control the entire region and not just the relatively small Iraqi output. If he could have controlled the entire Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula then it indeed would have jeopardized the economic security of the West.
K
This would not happened in the times of Dulles. Iraqi oil would have been alloted among American and British companies according to their war investment. Smaller allies also would have been rewarded.
Maybe the American Oil companies were just not interested in being ripped off.
Anon.
American Oil Companies were supposed to rip off Iraq.
Cheney said that the idea of the war was to open Iraq's oil to the free market, and that is exactly what is happening. He presumed that in a free market Americans would always win.
I suspect something is happening under the table. The Americans are being very quiet about this.
Anon.
Maybe American capitalists have turned soft & politically correct and are "sharing"? Where is Dick Cheney?
No. I think there is a payment from Iraqi govt to the USA out of the oil revenues. I hope so, anyway.
Anon.
You mean something like Japan paying for the maintenance of American bases on Japanese soil? I dont know.
I can't imagine otherwise.
Anon.
It would be interesting how much are Germany, Japan, SAudi Arabia to the maintenance of American military bases in their territory. It reminds me Athens's "empire" more than Rome's one. Athenians were extremely smart, probably the cleverest human group ever lived.
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