Mr. President, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., I am deeply concerned by the apparent lack of a clear and consistent U.S. policy on the entering into of oil deals in Iraq in the absence of Iraqi national hydrocarbon legislation. Unfortunately, that legislation, which would ensure equitable distribution of oil revenues among the Iraqi people and enable increased oil production and long-term foreign investment, remains stalled in the Iraqi Council of Representatives
In just a matter of weeks, much of the momentum behind Iraq’s push to revamp its oil industry has been weakened by political infighting, notes the Middle East Business Intelligence. Just when it seemed that real progress had been made through the signing of long-awaited technical service contracts with international oil companies (IOCs), rifts have again appeared.
Turkey and Iraq discussed joint energy projects in oil drilling and the transfer of oil and natural gas to Europe via new pipelines during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s scheduled one-day visit to Baghdad, said Begum Gursoy for TurkishPress.com.
Alongside security and political matters, energy was one of the top issues during the meetings. After intense talks, Iraq allowed Turkish companies to receive oil drilling permits. Erdogan pressed Iraqi officials to concede privileges to Turkish companies. Turkish and Iraqi companies could also form consortiums to execute the projects.
Oil privatization is a red line for the unions in occupied Iraq, and a red rag to the workers on the front line, who have vowed to resist any privatisation of what they see as national assets, writes Ewa Jasiewicz for The Guardian.
The Bush administration’s top benchmark, the Iraqi oil law, remains off the statute books, five deadlines and two years since its first draft. Yet the Iraqi cabinet keeps threatening to pass it, despite the lack of a parliamentary majority backing it.
Major western oil companies are on the cusp of potentially determinative transitional agreements with the Iraqi oil ministry as the country seeks to bolster development and revenues. However, significant challenges loom, says Dominic Moran in Tel Aviv for ISN Security Watch.
Two foreign policy advisers ripped GOP candidate for U.S. Senator from Colorado Bob Schaffer Friday, saying an oil deal his company negotiated in a region of Iraq jeopardized the safety of American troops, said Lynn Bartels with the Rocky Mountain News.
Schaffer researched the country and political situation when he visited in 2006 while working as a senior vice president for Denver-based Aspect Energy. The oil deal was reached the following year.
“I think there is a serious question about who Bob Schaffer is,” said Rand Beers, former senior member of National Security Council staff who worked for every president since Ronald Reagan.
In a city with constant electricity shortages but no lack of sunshine, the new buzz is solar energy, says Alexandra Zavis with the Los Angeles Times.
Teams of engineers have appeared along major Baghdad roadways, bolting panels and bulbs to rows of towering steel poles to make solar-powered streetlights.
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“Oil privatization is a red line for the unions in occupied Iraq, and a red rag to the workers on the front line, who have vowed to resist any privatisation of what they see as national assets”
RED: an appropriate color for Socialists and Communists who made up the core of Saddam Hussein’s government. We need to get back to painting the Democrats in the US with that same color in the election season, because it fits them so well.
Transition to privatization, if it occurs at all, will be extremely difficult. One reason for this, and why the unions protest, is that during the Sadam era the numbers of people employed in state-owned industries far exceeded the labor requirement for efficient production. In other words, many who have lived off state “largese” fear losing their jobs if the oil and other industries were efficiently run and operated under modern profit-driven management. Basically, the unionmembers are concerned more with self-interest other than national interests.
This puts at risk certain international interests. Currently the US Government has partnered with the Iraqi government to encourage privatization and developement of Iraqi state-owned industries. This initiative has just begun to bear fruit as some foreign businesses and joint ventures have begun to sign production-sharing agreements with the Iraqi government. Under these agreements foreign investment and expertise will be tapped to refurbish, operate and manage selected state-owned industries. The future success of these initiatives hinge greatly on future US involvement which a new US administration may or may not have. We can only hope for the best as Iraqi developement and future stability is in the best interest of us all.