Iraq Signs $3 Billion Oil Deal with China
While the US was all wound up over Sarah Palin joining the GOP ticket and over Hurricane Gustav drowning what is left of New Orleans, the Iraq-Namese government signed its first oil deal with a foreign entity. CNN noted, “The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said.” That's gratitude, isn't it?
The deal still needs the Green Zone Parliament to rubber stamp it, but that should happen in a matter of weeks. That means that, if the war was all about oil, the Busheviks just got screwed by their puppets. The big western oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA, Chevron Corp. and BP, are all still waiting for their shot at Iraq-Nam's oil.
This contract isn't as sweet for the Chinese as the deal it had with the Saddamite regime. Back in the 1990s the CNPC was entitled to a share of the profits. This time around, the Baghdad government has held out for better conditions. The CNPC will only get paid for services rendered. Those services include the provision of “technical advisers, oil workers and equipment to develop al-Ahdab oil field, providing fuel for al-Zubaidiya power plant in Wasit, southeast of Baghdad, bordering Iran, Jihad said,” according to CNN.
Nevertheless, it should appall any neo-conservative who ever believed that the Iraq-Namese would fund their own liberation and reconstruction. The Green Zone government has proved with this deal that it doesn't particularly care who provides it with expertise and equipment. In fact, it is diversifying its talent pool deliberately to avoid greater reliance on the USA.
The next American president is going to have to come to grips with the fact that China is a competitor in the world's raw material markets, and with the fact that the Shi'ite regime in Baghdad is propped up by US weapons but refuses to follow an America first policy. Perhaps the People's Liberation Army should take over the fight against Moqtada al-Sadr. The Chinese, at least, have an interest in who runs Iraq-Nam. Quite clearly, the Americans can't get anyone in Baghdad to support their approach.
© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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