Posts tagged Middle East

And The Oil Goes To…Russia?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The US goes to war in Iraq and many criticized the US saying we only went in there to get the oil.  Now it looks like Russia, China, and even France are benefiting from “our” oil.  Is North Korea next?

Did the US withhold bidding to say, “See we didn’t do it for the oil!”  We spent billions of dollars and lost thousands of troops in an effort to free Iraq.  They used that freedom to sell oil contracts to countries that didn’t want to help them gain that freedom.

Russia The Real Winner In Iraq: Russian Oil Giant Gets Iraq Contract

Well, isn’t that nice. Americans free Iraq of the genocidal dictator known as Saddam Hussein, and Russia reaps the rewards.

A Russian oil company won the bid for for drilling rights in one of Iraq’s premier oil finds. Lukoil along with Norway’s Statoil won the rights to the 12.88 billion barrel West Qurna Phase 2 field in the Basra region. They beat out bids from France, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. The United States was too busy worrying about green energy and hiring federal inmates to produce it to even bid.   –more

China’s CNPC wins Iraq’s Halfaya oil deal

Iraq’s oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani has announced a consortium led by China’s CNPC has won a deal in the country’s second bidding round to develop the giant Halfaya oilfield, Reuters has reported. CNPC has a 50% stake in the consortium, while Total of France and Malaysia’s Petronas hold 25% each. The Halfaya oilfield has estimated reserves of 4.1 billion barrels of oil.   –more

Related Iraqi Oil articles

• Lukoil Group Wins Iraq Oil Auction (online.wsj.com)
• Iraq Oil Field Goes to Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas (nytimes.com)
• Iraq hails 2nd oil auction (seattletimes.nwsource.com)