Iraq's Oil Up For Grabs Today In Biggest Oil Sale Ever

The biggest ever sale of oil assets will take place today, when the Iraqi government puts 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves up for offer in London.

BP, Shell and ExxonMobil are all expected to attend a meeting at the Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair with the Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani.

Access is being given to eight fields, representing about 40% of the Middle Eastern nation's reserves, at a time when the country remains under occupation by US and British forces.

Two smaller agreements have already been signed with Shell and the China National Petroleum Corporation, but today's sale will ignite arguments over whether the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was a "war for oil" that is now to be consummated by western multinationals seizing control of strategic Iraqi reserves.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[elcojonu]

What happens when the U.S. leaves and there is a new Shia government in Iraq ?
Oil will be nationalized and Iran will stand to benefit by forming a Shia cartel with Iraq and maybe even Russia.
Don't look for the U.S. to go back in there, it'll be like Nam; another loss, another waste of precious American lives and resources.

[mathme]

That picture is great. I wonder if they framed the sign so that it would say "HELL" on purpose.

[Ramirez]

Yup. That cropping of "Shell" is always considered clever.

[peterg76]

Selling Iraq's natural resources during occupation is a war crime.

[AmandaBC]

One more, one less... It's not like the US military is accountable to the world, or even their own country. Na_zi Germany wasn't, until they were defeated... It's no coincidence the US is **NOT** a member of the World Court. Applying the very same standards American judges used at Nuremberg, the entire leadership and most of the military officers should be han_ged. But then again, the US is king of hypocrisy and double standards...

[Ramirez]

The Iraqi government has a right to sell Iraqi oil.

[Georgiapundit]

BID?

I thought that oil was ours fare and square!

[Pete2069]

Want to know why the world hates us...Except for the ones Bush pays off....
There is something very funny the way our government and corporations are investing and giving our contracts to Britain....There has to be a very close business tie of the previously U.S. corporations and their movement to Britain and our government's contracts like the war contract McSame help give overseas.
Americans would be appalled if they knew just how many businesses , government contracts and total contracts our country has given to Britain and other foreign countries...We own nothing.....
Why are be broke and now a third world country ,,,, No productions and exports = No income.... No income =No economy..... No economy = equal total meltdown of our country.....
We have been sold out by Bush and this administration Lock , Stock and Barrel, and this includes Pelosi , Reid , Feinstein , Blue Dogs , Schumer , Hoyer , Mikulski and others which have supported and given Bush all he asked for and more....

[PT6]

Finally Bush gets what he was after all ALONG from this "FAKE" WAR!

This $3 Trillion WAR, that nearly bankrupt America, was about OIL for the Oil Companies!

This is a much bigger Crime than ENRON in that 4000+ soldiers were killed and Hundreds of Thousands of Iraqis were killed so Exxon, Shell, and others could make bigger profits.

We must prosecute those who caused this, the Largest Cime in our History!

[ronnierayjenkins]

Blood for oil.

http://www.ronnierayjenkins.com/topics/deathinappalachia/Empty_Chairs/

[AmandaBC]

"today's sale will ignite arguments over whether the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was a "war for oil" that is now to be consummated by western multinationals seizing control of strategic Iraqi reserves"

You'd have to be a complete m0ron if you thought otherwise...

[ContraEgoiste]

"Access is being given to eight fields, representing about 40% of the Middle Eastern nation's reserves, at a time when the country remains under occupation by US and British forces."

Suuure we are there to spread democracy.

And we only had to bomb the country into rubble, ki// about half a million Iraqis, turn 2 million into refugess, and regress a once secular country into religious fundamentalists tribal warlords to do it.

[leftLibertarian]

And Oil is the top reason why Bush and Cheney lied about WMD in Iraq.

And still the Dumbocrats refuse to impeach these criminals.

[AmandaBC]

The dumbocrats are part of the problem.

[Americatortures]

Why would Iraq sell off 40% of its oil reserves TO ANYONE??? MSM/investigative reporters must look into this!!!

[mjt218]

They're not selling their reserves outright. They're looking to go into a contractural relationship with a large oil company, where they pay the oil company to use its own organizational capability to find and develop the oil reserves.

[HallStyle]

Just another reason why I hate Republicans and there whole Ideology! They make me sick.
http://www.hallstyle.blogspot.com

[BellGirl08]

Anyone who did not know that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was all about oil is daft.

[CranioColicReflex]

trying to determine from that picture....
does Cheney spit or swallow?

[ajax2]

I want to give my apologies and condolences to all who died and were displaced to unwillingly facilitate these thefts.