… is a well respected oil man, a technocrat and a politician.
Rumor has it that when the Iraq National Oil Company is finally reestablished, he’s in line to be in charge.
He sat down with me in Dubai to discuss a number of issues, all in my interview published HERE by UPI.
The country is in need of energy, all sources of energy such as oil, gas, oil products. And it has the resources, we have the reserves. It’s only a matter of reorganizing ourselves, implementing plans and also, of course, implement the projects.
Such as we have shown, such as the stopping of flaring of the gas, collection of gas, separation, processing, providing LPG and providing the right gas for power generation. There is no doubt that Iraq has the potential to become an exporter of gas, of course as well as it is already an exporter of oil but it will be at a much higher level. …
Number two, this probable reserve, the figure of 214 billion barrels, we have to work hard to convert parts of it into proven reserves and therefore there has to be exploration by Iraqi efforts in addition to that by IOCS. …
So I believe we have taken enough measures, legally, in order to ensure such objectives to make the awards of contracts and the practice to be transparent and without corruption. Of course it is then up to the practice and implementation. …
Read the entire interview HERE.
Where’s the Corruption?
The Federation of American Scientists has published a “sensitive but unclassified” draft report by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on corruption in the Iraqi government.
It is a working draft, first exposed by David Corn in The Nation.
Excerpt:
In conversations with the Senior Consultant of Oil an atmosphere of intimidation by the IG over the minister is described. The IG office concentrates on administrative technicalities at the expense of oil theft or procurement. In the IG’s defense there are no
IG investigators capable of confronting oil theft rings that have come to fore supported by violent groups. …The major case coming out of MOE concerned the first Minister Aiham al Aammarae from the Allawi administration. Al Sammarae was sent to the investigative court on 10 charges worked up by BSA. Seven of which were dismissed and he was released as to those cases. Three of which he remained detained and were bound over for trial. One case was tried and found guilty the other two were pending.
On the day he was found guilty he was spirited away by his American PSD and tried to get into the US Embassy. The US Ambassador ordered that he be returned to Iraqi custody.
The Hunt for Hunt Oil Continues
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has stood on the U.S. House floor demanding an inquiry into the Hunt Oil exploration deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
He points to the fact CEO Ray Hunt has raised millions for the Bush administration and the Republican Party, as well as sits on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Bush crony + top U.S. intelligence + oil deal with Iraqi region accused of undermining the federal government = SCANDAL
Here is Kucinich’s full statement, accusations and demands for inquiry.
Now that Hunt signed in Iraqi Kurdistan, other oil firms must decide whether to follow suit or holdout for deals in the big prize: the rest of Iraq, where most of the proven and probable reserves are located.
Majors have been reluctant, as Ed Crooks and Sheila McNulty wrote in the Financial Times, waiting action by Baghdad on its reserves and exploration blocks.
Some countries, like the Russians, want in on the oil wealth and say they are due deals because of contracts signed with Saddam Hussein. Russian and Iraqi leaders meeting in Moscow today discussed just that.
Also, Prime Minister Maliki called his Jordanian counterpart to assure him the preferred priced oil supplies are coming.
Society, Security, Politics — the issues that will shape oil exploration in Iraq.
Joshua Holland writes for Alternet of a new study putting Iraqi deaths since the war at 1.2 million.
Bob Herbert writes in The New York Times of the “humanitarian nightmare in Iraq.”
Robert Fisk writes in The Independent on “The Death of History,” as artifacts in and out of museums in one of the oldest homes of civilization in the world are plundered four four-plus years.
The Jamestown Foundation publishes a new report titled Islamist Groups in Kurdistan. This is the one part of Iraq that is relatively peaceful and has seen security, political and economic developments. But there is a contingent there wanting a more Islamic-oriented state, which adds to the powder keg of Kurdish independence as a whole, which has resulted in accusations the KRG is harboring “terrorists” and Turkey and Iran have launched attacks as a result.
Meanwhile, as if living in Iraq isn’t hard enough right now, let alone joining the highly secularized security forces, Molly Hennessy-Fiske writes for the Los Angeles Times on the status of female soldiers in Iraq’s army and police. Thanks for this story, Molly.
And Hiba Dawood writes for UPI the Iraq Press Roundup.
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