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(from Al Jazeera, via United for Peace and Justice)<br>
<br>
"Prior to the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, US and other
western oil companies were all but completely shut out of Iraq's oil
market," oil industry analyst Antonia Juhasz told Al Jazeera. "But
thanks to the invasion and occupation, the companies are now back
inside Iraq and producing oil there for the first time since being
forced out of the country in 1973.<br>
[...]<br>
It is widely understood that Iraq will require at least $200bn in
physical and human investments to bring its production capacity up
to 12m bpd (million barrels/day), from its current production levels
[about 3m bpd].<o:p></o:p><br>
<br>
Juhasz explained that ExxonMobil, BP and Shell were among the oil
companies that "played the most aggressive roles in lobbying their
governments to ensure that the invasion would result in an Iraq open
to foreign oil companies."<br>
<br>
[See the graphic below for which companies have drilling contracts
in which mega-oilfields.]<br>
<br>
-------- Original Message --------
<table class="moz-email-headers-table" border="0" cellpadding="0"
cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Subject: </th>
<td>[ufpj-activist] Dahr Jamail re Western oil firms remain as
US claims to leave Iraq</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:42:15 -0500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>Marilyn Levin <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:marilynl@alumni.neu.edu"><marilynl@alumni.neu.edu></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:unac-discussion@googlegroups.com"><unac-discussion@googlegroups.com></a>,
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:bostonunac@googlegroups.com"><bostonunac@googlegroups.com></a>, Community Education
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:CommunityEducation@yahoogroups.com"><CommunityEducation@yahoogroups.com></a>, UFPJ-activist
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org"><ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org></a>, massaction-boston
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:massaction-boston@googlegroups.com"><massaction-boston@googlegroups.com></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
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<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.0pt"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/12/2011122813134071641.html">http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/12/2011122813134071641.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Western
oil firms remain as US exits Iraq <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The end
of the US military occupation does not mean Iraqis have
full control of their oil. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/profile/dahr-jamail.html">Dahr
Jamail</a> Last Modified: 07 Jan 2012 18:45 <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable"
style="width:24.75pt;background:#FB9D04;border-collapse:collapse;border:none"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="33">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border:solid white
1.0pt;border-bottom:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><img id="Picture_x0020_3"
src="cid:part1.07000607.06000807@illinois.edu"
alt="Description:
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2011/12/28/20111228132834721734_20.png"
border="0" height="450" width="680"><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:solid white
1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center"
align="center"><b><span
style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:white">Iraq
plans to increase its oil production capacity up
to 12 million barrels per day by 2017 [Al
Jazeera]</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Baghdad,
Iraq -</b> While the US military has formally ended its
occupation of Iraq, some of the largest western oil
companies, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell, remain.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">On
November 27, 38 months after Royal Dutch Shell announced its
pursuit of a massive gas deal in southern Iraq, the oil
giant had its contract signed for a $17bn flared gas deal.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Three
days later, the US-based energy firm Emerson submitted a bid
for a contract to operate at Iraq's giant Zubair oil field,
which reportedly holds some eight million barrels of oil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Earlier
this year, Emerson was awarded a contract to provide crude
oil metering systems and other technology for a new oil
terminal in Basra, currently under construction in the
Persian Gulf, and the company is installing control systems
in the power stations in Hilla and Kerbala.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Iraq's
supergiant Rumaila oil field is already being developed by
BP, and the other supergiant reserve, Majnoon oil field, is
being developed by Royal Dutch Shell. Both fields are in
southern Iraq.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">According
to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Iraq's
oil reserves of 112 billion barrels ranks second in the
world, only behind Saudi Arabia. The EIA also estimates that
up to 90 per cent of the country remains unexplored, due to
decades of US-led wars and economic sanctions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"Prior
to the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, US and other
western oil companies were all but completely shut out of
Iraq's oil market," oil industry analyst Antonia Juhasz told
Al Jazeera. "But thanks to the invasion and occupation, the
companies are now back inside Iraq and producing oil there
for the first time since being forced out of the country in
1973."<o:p></o:p></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable"
style="width:187.5pt;background:#FB9D04;border-collapse:collapse;border:none"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="250">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:white">"The
last thing the US cares about in the Middle East
is democracy. It is about oil, full stop." </span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span
style="font-size:7.5pt;color:white">- Dr
Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Juhasz,
author of the books <i>The Tyranny of Oil</i> and <i>The
Bush Agenda</i>, said that while US and other western oil
companies have not yet received all they had hoped the
US-led invasion of Iraq would bring them, "They've certainly
done quite well for themselves, landing production contracts
for some of the world's largest remaining oil fields under
some of the world's most lucrative terms."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Dr
Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum, an international oil consultant and
economist who has spent nearly 50 years in the oil business
in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, agrees that
western oil companies have "obtained concessions in Iraq's
major [oil] fields", despite "there being a lack of
transparency and clarity of vision regarding the legal
issues".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Dr
Zalloum added that he believes western oil companies have
successfully acquired the lions' share of Iraq's oil, "but
they gave a little piece of the cake for China and some of
the other countries and companies to keep them silent".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">In
a speech at Fort Bragg in the wake of the US military
withdrawal, US President Barack Obama said the US was
leaving behind "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq,
with a representative government that was elected by its
people".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Of
this prospect, Dr Zalloum was blunt.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"The
last thing the US cares about in the Middle East is
democracy. It is about oil, full stop."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>A
strong partnership?</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">A
White House press release dated November 30 titled, "Joint
Statement by the United States of America and the Republic
of Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee", said this about
"energy co-operation" between the two countries:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i>"The
United States is committed to supporting the Republic of
Iraq in its efforts to develop the energy sector.
Together, we are exploring ways to help boost Iraq's oil
production, including through better protection for
critical infrastructure." </i><o:p></o:p></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable"
style="width:24.75pt;border-collapse:collapse" align="right"
border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="33">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-element:frame;mso-element-frame-hspace:2.25pt;mso-element-wrap:around;mso-element-anchor-vertical:paragraph;mso-element-anchor-horizontal:column;mso-element-left:right;mso-element-top:middle;mso-height-rule:exactly"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/iraqschallenge/"
target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration:none"><img
id="Picture_x0020_2"
src="cid:part2.01030900.03070002@illinois.edu"
alt="Description:
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/218/330/mritems/Images/2011/12/11/2011121184917300734_20.jpg"
border="0" height="218" width="330"></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:center;mso-element:frame;mso-element-frame-hspace:2.25pt;mso-element-wrap:around;mso-element-anchor-vertical:paragraph;mso-element-anchor-horizontal:column;mso-element-left:right;mso-element-top:middle;mso-height-rule:exactly"
align="center"><b><span
style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Follow
Al Jazeera's continuing coverage of Iraq</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Iraq
is one of the largest oil exporters to the US, and has plans
to raise its overall crude oil exports to 3.3m barrels per
day (bpd) next year, compared with their target of 3m bpd
this year, according to Assim Jihad, spokesman for Iraq's
ministry of oil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Jihad
told Al Jazeera that Iraq has a goal of raising its oil
production capacity to 12m bpd by 2017, which would place it
in the top echelon of global producers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">According
to Jihad, Iraq's 2013 production goal is 4.5m bpd, and in
2014 it is 5m bpd. The 2017 goal is ambitious, given that
Iraq did not meet its 2011 goal, and many officials say 8m
bpd capacity is more realistic for 2017.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Unexplored
regions of Iraq could yield an additional 100bn barrels, and
Iraq's production costs are among the lowest in the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">To
date, only about 2,000 wells have been drilled in Iraq,
compared with roughly one million wells in Texas alone.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Globally,
current oil usage is approximately 88m bpd. By 2030, global
petroleum demand will grow by 27m bpd, and many energy
experts see Iraq as being a key player in meeting this
demand.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">It
is widely understood that Iraq will require at least $200bn
in physical and human investments to bring its production
capacity up to 12m bpd, from its current production levels.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Juhasz
explained that ExxonMobil, BP and Shell were among the oil
companies that "played the most aggressive roles in lobbying
their governments to ensure that the invasion would result
in an Iraq open to foreign oil companies".<o:p></o:p></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable"
style="width:187.5pt;background:#FB9D04;border-collapse:collapse;border:none"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="250">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:center"
align="center"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;color:white"><img
id="Picture_x0020_1"
src="cid:part3.07000908.03090104@illinois.edu"
alt="Description:
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2011/12/28/2011122814578281734_3.jpg"
border="0" height="218" width="330"></span></b><b><span
style="font-size:7.5pt;color:white">Iraq's oil
reserves may be second only to Saudi Arabia's
[EPA]</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"They
succeeded," she added. "They are all back in. BP and CNPC
[China National Petroleum Corporation] finalised the first
new oil contract issued by Baghdad for the largest oil field
in the country, the 17 billion barrel super giant Rumaila
field. ExxonMobil, with junior partner Royal Dutch Shell,
won a bidding war against Russia's Lukoil (and junior
partner ConocoPhillips) for the 8.7 billion barrel West
Qurna Phase 1 project. Italy's Eni SpA, with California's
Occidental Petroleum and the Korea Gas Corp, was awarded
Iraq's Zubair oil field with estimated reserves of 4.4
billion barrels. Shell was the lead partner with Malaysia's
Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, winning a contract for
the super-giant Majnoon field, one of the largest in the
world, with estimated reserves of up to 25 billion."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Zalloum
says there is a two-fold interest for the western oil
companies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"There
is development of the existing fields, but also for the
explored but not-yet-produced fields," he said. "For the old
fields, there are two types of development. One is to
renovate the infrastructure, since for most of the past 25
years it has depreciated due to the sanctions and turmoil.
Also, some of these fields have different stratum, so once
they use innovative techniques like horizontal drilling,
there is a huge potential in the fields they have explored."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">But
there are complicating factors. As a spasm of violence
wracked Baghdad in the wake of the US military withdrawal
and political rifts widen, Iraq's instability is evident.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"Iraq
has lots of cheap-to-get oil, but it also has a multitude of
problems - political, ethnic, tribal, religious etc - that
have prevented them from exploiting it as well or as quickly
as the Saudis," says Tom Whipple, an energy scholar who was
a CIA analyst for 30 years. "Someday it may turn out that
Iraq has more oil underground than Saudi Arabia. The big
question is how stable it will be after the US leaves? So
far it is not looking all that good."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Jihad,
Iraq's ministry of oil spokesman, however, said attacks
against Iraq's oil pipelines have minimal effect on
production capabilities, and claimed "sabotage will not
affect our oil production and exports because we can fix
these damages within days, or even hours".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Whipple,
a fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute, says Baghdad had
driven a hard bargain with western oil companies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"The
only reason they are participating is because everybody else
is and they hope to get a foot in the door in case some new
government in Iraq changes its policies to let other
outsiders make more money. Remember it is not all the
traditional western oil companies that are in there; the
Chinese, Russians and Singapore all want a piece of the
action."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Wrong
idea?</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Spokesman
Jihad told Al Jazeera that the reason many Iraqis think
western oil companies are operating in Iraq is simply to
steal Iraq's oil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"These
ideas were obtained during the regime of deposed dictator
Saddam Hussein, and these are the wrong ideas," he said.
"The future will help Iraqis understand these companies have
come to work here to help Iraq sell its oil to help the
people, and they work to serve the country."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Jihad
admitted that his media office works "to help Iraqis
understand the nature of the work of these companies and
their investing in Iraq".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Despite
the efforts of Jihad's office to prove otherwise, Iraqis Al
Jazeera spoke with disagree.<o:p></o:p></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable"
style="width:187.5pt;background:#FB9D04;border-collapse:collapse;border:none"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="250">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:white">"If
Iraq had no oil, would America have sacrificed
thousands of its soldiers and hundreds of
billions of dollars to come here?"</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span
style="font-size:7.5pt;color:white">- Basim
al-Khalili</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"Only
a naïve child could believe the Americans came here for
something besides our oil," Ahmed Ali, an unemployed
engineer, told Al Jazeera. "Nor can we believe their being
here has anything to do with helping the Iraqi people."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Basim
al-Khalili, a restaurant owner in Baghdad's Karada district,
agrees.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"If
Iraq had no oil, would America have sacrificed thousands of
its soldiers and hundreds of billions of dollars to come
here?"<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Oil
analyst Juhasz also agrees.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"The
US and other western oil companies and their governments had
been lobbying for passage of a new national law in Iraq, the
Iraq Oil Law, which would move Iraq from a nationalised to a
largely privatised oil market using Production Sharing
Agreements (PSAs), a type of contract model used in just
approximately 12 per cent of the world's oil market."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">She
explained that this agreement has been summarily rejected by
most countries, including all of Iraq's neighbours, "because
it provides far more benefits to the foreign corporation
than to the domestic government".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">But
it has not been an easy road for the western oil companies
in Iraq.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"Major
western companies, such as Chevron and ConocoPhillips, that
had hoped to sign contracts were unable to do so. A third
round [of contracts] took place in December 2010 and saw no
major western oil companies (except Shell) win contracts. I
believe that there was an Iraqi backlash against the
awarding of contracts to the large western major oil
companies. Thus, in December 2010, fields went to Russian
oil companies Lukoil and Gazprom, Norway's Statoil, and the
Angolan company Sonangol, among others."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Unlike
under Iraq's Oil Law, these contracts do not need to go
through parliament, according to the central government.
This means the contracts are being signed without public
discourse.<o:p></o:p></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable"
style="width:187.5pt;background:#FB9D04;border-collapse:collapse;border:none"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="250">
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<td style="padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:center"
align="center"><b><span
style="font-size:7.5pt;color:white"><br>
Dahr Jamail reports from Baghdad on the
recent bombings which left scores dead across
the country</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"The
public is against privatisation, which is one reason why the
law has not passed," added Juhasz. "The contracts are
enacting a form of privatisation without public discourse
and essentially at the butt of a gun - these contracts have
all been awarded during a foreign military occupation with
the largest contracts going to companies from the foreign
occupiers' countries. It seems that democracy and equity are
the two largest losers in this oil battle."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Iraq's
oil future </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Under
the current circumstances, the possibility of a withdrawal
of western oil companies from Iraq appears remote, and the
Obama administration continues to pressure Baghdad to pass
the Iraq Oil Law.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Nevertheless,
resistance to the western presence continues.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">"The
bottom line is that it seems clear that the majority of
Iraqis want their oil and its operations to remain in Iraqi
hands," said Juhasz. "Thus far, it has required a massive
foreign military invasion and occupation to grant the
foreign oil companies the access they have thus far
garnered."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">While
Iraq's security remains as volatile as ever, as does the
political landscape - which can change dramatically at any
moment - there is one thing we can always count on as being
at the heart of these conflicts, and that is Iraq's oil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><i>Follow
Dahr Jamail on Twitter: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/#%21/DahrJamail"
target="_blank">@DahrJamail</a></i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><tt><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></tt></p>
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