At the Iraq oil auction

[Plane]

The story you missed is that the natural wealth of Iraq was auctioned off to foreigners, "mulitnationals," in fact, who are dividing up the spoils as we speak.

That is the best way to get cash , don't you think the Iriquis need some cash?

Iriquis need jobs , they need infrastructure , they need it now .


Would you rather they did it the Cuban method , in which the eventual development is always in the future?

[Amianthus]

Pre-invasion, all the profits went to the Iraqi government, now they are shared with foreigners who bid for their shares at auctions.

Really? So, pre-invasion there were NO foreign companies working the oil fields? It was all done domestically?

Please prove that one. Because there is lots of evidence to the contrary out there.

Pre-invasion, companies were paid a per-barrel fee for extracting the oil. Post-invasion, companies are being paid a per-barrel fee for extracting the oil. I don't see what's changed. Heck, even the same companies for the most part - except that France's ELF seems to have lost out.

[Amianthus]

The list of auction winners and losers is still nowhere to be seen, and its absence from the MSM in itself is highly meaningful. 

Sure they were. Here is one report: http://www.sharenet.co.za/v3/news_disp.php?id=175003

[sirs]

<<Several of the oil fields were also reserved for future development, but the Iraqi government has already said that they will reserve those for development by their own domestic industry.>>

They can say anything they like, they can even say they are independent and sovereign, but we all know better.  The decision to hold fields in reserve was probably that of the big oil companies, not anxious to flood the market with more product at this time, jockeying for maximum price when the fields are opened.  

Must Fit Template.......Must Fit Template.  SOP....All other facts to the contrary must be rationalized or ignored

[Michael Tee]

<<So, pre-invasion there were NO foreign companies working the oil fields? It was all done domestically?

<<Please prove that one. Because there is lots of evidence to the contrary out there.>>

Well, you previously posted that some contracts had been let pre-invasion but the real issue is proportion.  By the Iraqi pre-invasion constitution, the oil was the property of the Socialist Iraqi state and could not be sold to private interests.  Of course, this could be circumvented by long-term concessions to explore and/or drill , so long as the term was not in perpetuity.  Saddam might have exploited loop-hole to exploit this field or that field by letting a foreign concession or two, but you also indicated in another post that the two auctions dealt with all the oilfield resources that Iraq possessed.  This would represent a radical departure from the pre-invasion system and a major victory for the foreign and "multi-national" oil companies.

<<Pre-invasion, companies were paid a per-barrel fee for extracting the oil. Post-invasion, companies are being paid a per-barrel fee for extracting the oil. I don't see what's changed. Heck, even the same companies for the most part - except that France's ELF seems to have lost out.>>

Apples and oranges.  You are comparing a situation that involved a few oil fields before the invasion with a "to the bare walls" fire sale of all the national resources to foreigners after the invasion.

[Michael Tee]

<<Sure they were. Here is one report: http://www.sharenet.co.za/v3/news_disp.php?id=175003>>

Thanks.  Interesting the report did not mention the term (duration) of any of the contracts.  Beyond the per-barrel fee for the oil extracted, there was no mention of any other remuneration the foreign companies might expect, nor any indication of which party to the contract would bear the costs or expenses of extracting the oil.  These are very likely "costs plus" contracts but no mention of that is made in the article.  The "costs" and how they are defined are at least as important as the per-barrel fee.  No mention at all of this in the article.

Also no mention of the subcontracting of the exploration blocks or even of the wells themselves.

You are basically reporting on the tip of the iceberg and saying, nothing suspicious there.  But the bulk of the iceberg is hidden from your eyes.  The key to understanding the real deal is that there IS an iceberg at all.  Before the invasion, with maybe a few exceptions in a few fields, the Iraqi National Petroleum Company did the exploring, development and operation on its own.  Now the puppet government has auctioned it all to foreigners, who obviously have cherry-picked the fields, leaving the "dogs" in Iraqi hands and skimming the best for themselves.  Who is really going to cash in on this is hidden in deals you'll never see unless you're an executive of one of the oil companies.  But as I say, Google "exploration blocks" and the name of any oil company major, and you'll see to what extent these companies trade resources among themselves.

[BT]

Let's review.

Pre Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.

Post Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.

[Plane]

<<Sure they were. Here is one report: http://www.sharenet.co.za/v3/news_disp.php?id=175003>>

  These are very likely "costs plus" contracts but no mention of that is made in the article.

.............  
  Before the invasion, with maybe a few exceptions in a few fields, the Iraqi National Petroleum Company did the exploring, development and operation on its own.  

I beleive the costs are entirely borne by the companys and this is the risk they run, the profit margin might dissapear in those costs. You can't get insurance for that.


Before the invasion these oil feilds were the personal property of Saddam Hussein and the people of Iraq (who were not his relations) subsisted on the crumbs that fell from his table.

[sirs]

Let's review.

Pre Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.

Post Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.

I'm sure there's an (il)logical rationalization to explain that

[Michael Tee]

Let's review.

Pre Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.

Post Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.
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Let's review.  More accurately this time.

Before the bully beat me up, I had a beautiful full-to-overflowing wardrobe of clothes, and once or twice I would take a few items from my wardrobe to the Goodwill store to be sold on consignment as second-hand clothes.

After the bully beat me up, my whole fucking wardrobe  except for the clothes on my back was auctioned off to all the second-hand clothing stores in the fucking city.

See the difference?

[Michael Tee]

<<That is the best way to get cash , don't you think the Iriquis need some cash?

<<Iriquis need jobs , they need infrastructure , they need it now .>>

Hmmm.  Need cash.  Need jobs . . . .  Need them now . . .

Yes, of course, I see it quite clearly.  The U.S.A. needs cash and jobs, yet it has a shitload of oil in the ground, minerals, factories - - why not sell the whole package to China, the whole national heritage, for the quick bucks they'd bring in?  

Excellent solution.  Smart.  Far-sighted.  

[sirs]

Let's review.

Pre Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.

Post Saddam ouster Iraq leased it's oil fields to foreign companies in exchange for royalties.

I'm sure there's an (il)logical rationalization to explain that

Let's review.  More accurately this time.

Before the bully beat me up, I had a beautiful full-to-overflowing wardrobe of clothes, and once or twice I would take a few items from my wardrobe to the Goodwill store to be sold on consignment as second-hand clothes.

After the bully beat me up, my whole fucking wardrobe  except for the clothes on my back was auctioned off to all the second-hand clothing stores in the fucking city.

See what I mean?

[Plane]

<<That is the best way to get cash , don't you think the Iriquis need some cash?

<<Iriquis need jobs , they need infrastructure , they need it now .>>

Hmmm.  Need cash.  Need jobs . . . .  Need them now . . .

Yes, of course, I see it quite clearly.  The U.S.A. needs cash and jobs, yet it has a shitload of oil in the ground, minerals, factories - - why not sell the whole package to China, the whole national heritage, for the quick bucks they'd bring in?  

Excellent solution.  Smart.  Far-sighted.  

The bully being Saddam?

Are you under the impression that Iraq's people were shareing in the oil welth that was building Saddam two dozen palaces?

Reverse the order of your propasition; before the bully was beaten up he took clothes from my closet, now he is gone and I can have something.

[sirs]

Precisely

[BT]

After the bully beat me up, my whole fucking wardrobe  except for the clothes on my back was auctioned off to all the second-hand clothing stores in the fucking city.

Well i'm sure if that were true you could source it.

But it seems to me the mere presence of two auctions indicates the leasing of the fields and the timing of such leasings is under the control of the Iraqi Government.