[lbo-talk] No oil for blood

Eubulides paraconsistent at comcast.net
Tue Jun 30 19:47:27 PDT 2009


Marv Gandall wrote:


> If the invasion of Iraq was aimed at seizing it's oil supplies on
> behalf of
> US oil interests, as some on the left then simplistically contended,
> it has
> has yet to yield any results. The US-installed Maliki government
> yesterday
> granted the right to develop the prize Rumaila field to a group led by BP
> and the largest state-owned Chinese oil corporation rather than to
> consortia
> led by US firms ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. The invasion was primarily
> meant as a demonstration of overwhelming US military power by the Bush
> administration designed to cow America's enemies into submission - a
> colossal strategic blunder which had the opposite effect of what was
> intended.

==============

Yes a bunch of US firms wanted better terms and yes it's too early to tell whether it was a strategic blunder -we'll leave aside the normative issues thanx- but in another sense there was a projection of power that was a success as indicated in a paragraph below:


>
>
> Iraq is inviting international oil companies back into the country after
> kicking them out in 1972, when the party of late dictator Saddam Hussein
> nationalized concessions. The license round was set to start yesterday
> and
> delayed one day after sandstorms closed Baghdad's airport, preventing oil
> executives from reaching the capital with their bids.

Pre-empting a return to resource nationalism via the use of auction theory, even as this round of the auction did not turn out so well for some players, is a major step in the process of current and future Iraqi administrations willing to internalize imported economic theories as part of the process of building new bureaucracies, development strategies etc. Clearly some form of post-neoliberal dirigsime will take root and befuddle the Procrusteans in our midst.

[snip]

http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=68995263790

BAGHDAD (AP) _ Iraq's long-awaited licensing round to develop some of its massive oil reserves stumbled Tuesday as oil and gas companies dug in their heals, demanding more money for their efforts than the government was willing to pay.

International oil companies were submitting bids for six oil and two gas fields more than 30 years after Saddam Hussein nationalized the oil sector and expelled foreign firms. The televised process coincided with Iraq assuming formal control over its cities _ a step toward ending the U.S. combat role in the country.

But by midday, only one field had been awarded and several others drew limited to no interest.

The government was hoping that the high-profile licensing round _ televised to prove its transparency _ would result in companies flooding in, bringing their expertise as the country looks to boost output of a resource whose sales bring in 90 percent of the government's revenues.



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