Two conferences on Iraq oil and other energy, security and political issues.
Government and oil industry officials met and went.
And now back to Iraq, where the oil law, as well as the revenue sharing law, seem far from complete. But behind all the controversy and political rhetoric from in and outside Iraq, the fact the two laws are in a draft form, on paper, is actually the result of people with assumed different interests sitting down, discussing and collaborating.
Many divisions sprouted this week: Oil Minister Shahristani pans the new Kurdistan PSA deal and announces he’s ready to move forward on oil development as well. But it’s Deeper than an oil law in Iraq.
KRG deals with Texas’ Hunt on controversial contract. This will prove to be very, very interesting as more is released about Hunt and its well-connected owner.
In Dubai, the Iraq oil ministry laid out its 5-year plan to dramatically increase oil production.
Oil unions meet, vow to shut pipelines if oil law passes.
“The crude gushes!” in Kurdistan.
U.S. Commerce Dept. hiring for Iraq oil helper. As part of a U.S. government inter-agency process, the U.S. Department of Commerce will be providing technical assistance to Iraq to create a legal and tax environment conducive to domestic and foreign investment in Iraq’s key economic sectors, starting with the mineral resources sector.
Majnoon field production stopped for violence.
National Dialogue Front returns to Parliament.
Head of Iraq corruption investigator, visiting U.S., quits.
He accuses corruption in Maliki government. He also is alleged to be crooked.
U.N. report about human rights in Iraq will be pushed back upon U.S. request.
Slowly but surely: Controversial Brinkley cutting Washington red tape to increase employment.
The not-so-quiet American is Paul Brinkley, a fast-talking 40-year-old deputy undersecretary of defense. The onetime Silicon Valley executive has spent the past year trying to reopen parts of what he calls “Iraq Inc.” - the nearly 200 state-owned factories that once manufactured everything from toilets to toothpaste to tractors.
One of the little-known consequences of the American-led regime change four years ago was that most of the country’s half-million industrial workers lost their jobs when the Baathist government, which had run the factories, collapsed. American administrators, who believed the Soviet-style system was antiquated, inefficient, and, well, socialist, had no interest in restarting the factories. Pure, unvarnished, American-style capitalism was the answer.
But while waiting for Adam Smith, says Sabah al Khafaji, the director-general of the bus factory, some of his former workers joined the insurgency. “At least they paid,” he says through a translator.
