oil auction in iraq
Here’s a little more about the recent auction of oil development contracts in Iraq. People are putting a happy face on it, but it doesn’t sound like it went too well.
- Iraq hails oil auction; major firms steer clear
- Contracts Awarded to Russian, Norwegian Firms on Last Day of Iraq Oil Auction
- No boon for U.S. firms in Iraq oil deal auction
Critics said the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq said was driven by oil, but United States oil majors were largely absent from an Iraqi auction of oil deals snapped up instead by Russian, Chinese and other firms.
Iraqi officials said this proved their independence from U.S. influence and that their two bidding rounds this year for deals to tap Iraq’s vast oil reserves, the world’s third largest, were free of foreign political interference.
Maybe it proves their independence, although I doubt it. Maybe it proves the war wasn’t about oil, but yeah, right. To me, this whole episode simply proves that the Iraq war was just as botched as we said it was from the beginning. After seven years, oil production is still crawling along, it’s hard to find investors, and we didn’t even manage to deliver a few plums to American oil companies. Bad enough we fought this war at all, but we made an even worse disaster than we had to. Good going, Bushies. Way to secure your legacy.
