Kucinich Fights for Iraq Against U.S. Oil Companies

Posted by Dan Graeber, Iraq Oil Report at 10:02 AM on August 7, 2008.

The Oil for Iraq Liberation bill, introduced by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, will prevent U.S. based oil companies from development of and investment in petroleum resources of Iraq.

"Recently we have seen evidence of a concerted effort to pressure the Iraqi government into privatizing Iraqi oil fields against the will of its citizens. We have also heard that certain high level architects of the Iraq war stand to gain financially. This bill will ensure that the Iraqi oil money stays out of the hands of U.S. oil companies who would otherwise benefit from the US attack on and occupation of Iraq."

Despite intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi legislators Sunday failed to reach an agreement to solve an increasingly bitter dispute over the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, Leila Fadel and Sahar Issa write for McClatchy.

Kirkuk sits on Iraq's northern oil fields and also on a fault line between the Sunni Muslim Kurds who dominate most of northern Iraq and the Sunni Arabs who occupy the center of the country.

The parliament's inability to resolve the dispute over the city mirrors Iraqi political leaders' inability to make progress on other fronts, including constitutional amendments and the passage of a law governing the distribution of the country's oil revenues, despite the recent improvements in security.

Iraq is inviting bids from contractors to drill seven new oil wells and complete work on four natural gas wells.

The Oil Ministry says contractors have until Sept 15 to submit bids to drill in the East Baghdad oil field.

Today's statement says bids to complete four gas wells in the Akkas gas field in western Iraq will be accepted until September 30, the UAE's The National reports.

UAE-based Dana Gas and its partner and shareholder Crescent Petroleum announced on 29 July that a 462mn cu. ft. site has been allocated for its planned Kurdistan Gas City.

However, the success of the project, which will cost $3bn to build and generate planned foreign investment of over $40bn, like other Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) energy initiatives, will likely depend on the resolution of the dispute over what powers the federal Ministry of Oil wields in regions such as the KRG, the Tehran Times said.

The UK/Dutch Shell Group hopes to sign short-term technical service agreements in Iraq shortly, in addition to a gas deal, but has failed to give a definitive timeline for either.

"In Iraq, subject to the security situation, we are keen to make progress," says Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive officer at Shell, writes Perry Williams for the Middle East Business Intelligence.

Iraq's daily oil production is at its highest level since the March 2003 U.S. invasion, in large part thanks to improved security, according to a Pentagon audit.

"Iraqi oil production set new records this quarter, with output reaching 2.43 million barrels per day, the highest quarterly average since the invasion," Stuart Bowen, the Defense Department's inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, wrote in his 18th quarterly report to Congress on the expenditure of $50 billion in U.S. economic aid. Production fell to 1.3 million barrels a day during 2003, Bloomberg's Tony Capaccio reported.

Tagged as: iraq, oil, dennis kucinich, war on iraq, privatization, defense department