U.S. Companies Shut Out as Iraq Auctions Its Oil Fields

[cowcommander]

Source: Time

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. " certainly answers the theory that the war was for the benefit of big U.S. oil interests," says Alex Munton, Middle East oil analyst for the energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, whose clients include major U.S. companies. "That has not been demonstrated by what has happened this week."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091219/wl_time/08599194878700

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This is great, it's nice to see the Iraqis have control over their resources now.

[dmosh42]

1. I wouldn't classify any of the 'Big Oil' companies as "American"..

They're multi-national, and have no allegiance to this country. Their crude is sold on the world wide commodity markets, and their executives reflect this.

[mmonk]

2. Yes. The Cheney Energy Task Force had "foreign" suitors.

[pampango]

3. If this causes Cheney heartburn, so much the better. The Iraq invasion has solidified anti-American

sentiment in the oil-producing countries. American companies may win a few bids from time to time, but I doubt anyone is going to bend over backwards to cut our oil companies a break - as it should be. You break it, you pay the price for doing so.

[ck4829]

4. Oh, but one US company did manage to get some bids.

You'll never guess in a million years which one it was. :sarcasm: