[R-G] Pentagon Hands Iraq Oil Deal to Shell

[Anthony Fenton]

Pentagon Hands Iraq Oil Deal to Shell

By Nick Turse, AlterNet. Posted October 2, 2008.

The U.S. government secretly facilitated dealings between Shell and  
the Iraqi Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/101012/pentagon_hands_iraq_oil_deal_to_shell/

In June of this year, Andrew Kramer, writing in the New York Times  
broke the story that the world's oil giants, "Exxon Mobil, Shell,  
Total and BP ... along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil  
companies" were "in talks with Iraq's Oil Ministry for no-bid  
contracts to service Iraq's largest fields." Subsequently, the Times  
went on to report that "A group of American advisers led by a small  
State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts  
between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies ...  
" The Times asserted that the "disclosure" was "the first confirmation  
of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open  
Iraq's oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism."

In reality, there had long been ample evidence of deep involvement  
between the Bush administration, foreign firms and Iraq's Oil  
Ministry. The Times and other major media outlets also failed to  
expose the major financial ties between the military occupation in  
Iraq and the same oil giants. In fact, each of the oil giants named in  
the original New York Times piece -- Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, BP,  
and Chevron -- regularly shows up on the Pentagon's payroll. In fact,  
last year, the five firms took home more than $4.1 billion from the  
Pentagon -- with Shell leading the way with $2.1 billion.

In September, the "criticism" the Times predicted apparently finally  
scuttled the no-bid deals. In a piece by Kramer and Campbell  
Robertson, it was reported that the "plan to award six no-bid  
contracts to Western oil companies, which came under sharp criticism  
from several United States senators this summer, ha[d] been  
withdrawn." The companies would, however, be eligible to bid for  
contracts and, just days later, it was announced that the Pentagon's  
favorite of the oil majors, Shell, would become the first oil giant to  
sign an energy deal with the Iraqi government in 35 years.

On September 22nd, the government of Iraq and Royal Dutch Shell  
officially signed a $4 billion deal "to establish a joint venture with  
[Iraq's] South Gas Company in the Basra district of southern Iraq to  
process and market natural gas." A day later, the Times reported that  
Shell had "established an office in Baghdad." From a "news conference  
in Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone," the Times quoted Linda Cook,  
the executive director of the Shell's gas and power unit, as saying,  
"We are ready to establish a presence."

While the Times didn't report it, Cook went on to say, "I am delighted  
that the Iraqi Government including the Ministry of Oil have supported  
Shell as the partner for joint venture with the South Gas Company. We  
look forward to moving jointly to implement the JV and begin investing  
in the energy infrastructure in Iraq." What the Times (and other major  
media outlets) also failed to mention was that guarantor of that  
"Green Zone" from which Cook spoke, just days before, had the inked  
its own huge energy deal with Shell. On September 17th, Shell was  
awarded a $338 million contract for aviation fuel by the Pentagon. In  
fact, even before this contract, Shell had already awarded over $1  
billion from the Pentagon during this fiscal year. If history is any  
guide, it will receive billions more before fiscal 2009 starts.

The Pentagon's Shell deal came during one DoD's periodic petroleum  
benders -- massive multi-day spending sprees where hundreds of  
millions or billions of taxpayer dollars are paid out to oil  
companies. This one, on September 17th and 18th, netted Shell,  
Chevron, ConocoPhillips and seven other oil companies a grand total of  
over $1.5 billion.

The fact that the U.S. government secretly facilitated dealings  
between Shell and the Iraqi Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts; that  
the U.S. military -- the primary occupation force in Iraq -- regularly  
pays Shell billions of dollars each year; that on the heals of a  
contract worth hundred of millions of dollars with the U.S. military,  
Shell just inked a deal with the with occupied Iraq and set up an  
office in the U.S. military's secure "Green Zone" should raise myriad  
questions about the tangled relationship between the major players in  
Iraq. These complex issues go ignored because they are viewed as so  
routine as not to be worth mentioning, but in any other context the  
confluence of guns, oil and billions of dollars would certainly raise  
eyebrows.