In secret agreement, Shell nets 25-year monopoly on S. Iraq's gas

By GottaLaff

Oily to bed, oily to rise:

Royal Dutch Shell oil company and the Iraqi Oil Ministry have struck a secret, as-of-yet non-binding agreement that gives a monopoly over southern Iraq's natural gas to the energy giant. It marks the first time in over 35 years a Western oil company has played a major role in the country's most lucrative industry.

Signed Sept. 22 and obtained by United Press International, the "Heads of Agreement" document -- basically a legal framework for a contract -- delegates Shell sole access to the reserves for the next 25 years, with an option to extend that term.

Shell says the arrangement gives it exclusive rights to all natural gas runoff produced by oil exploration operations in the southern portion of the country. However, like so many other major industrial contracts coming out of Iraq, the process used to reach an agreement is being questioned. [...]
The agreement does not allow Iraqi's the first rights to the natural gas reserves. [...]

The "Heads of Agreement" document is just the next step in what AlterNet's Nick Turse says is a secretly negotiated arrangement between the Pentagon and the UK's most powerful oil company.

"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," writes Turse. "This one, on September 17th and 18th, netted Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and seven other oil companies a grand total of over $1.5 billion."

"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," he concludes.

Oil shook up.

Gramm-pa McCain Bundler Accused of War Profiteering

By GottaLaff

We're witnessing an avalanche. They can try to dig out of all of these messes (the last two days of posts alone are overwhelming), but it's a losing proposition. The latest is all about Harry Sargeant, the Florida fundraiser who has been bundling checks for Republican Sen. John McCain:

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) released a letter today outlining his findings after reviewing contracts Sargent's oil company brokered with the U.S. Department of Defense.

They aren't pretty.

"I have been conducting oversight of procurement problems in Iraq since the war began over five years ago. The IOTC contracts stand out for the extent of the company's apparent profiteering," Waxman wrote. "Of the $210 million in profits received by the company, at least one third -- $70 million -- appears to have benefited a single individual: Mr. Sargeant."

At issue were the prices Sargeant's company, the International Oil Trading Company, charged for jet fuel. Waxman said the company offered the highest prices of six companies to bid for the military contract, but won because it was the only one with the blessing of the Jordanian royal family to deliver fuel over Jordanian land.

Waxman says that if the oil contracts Sargeant's company had been awarded to the lowest bidders, the taxpayers could have saved over $180 million.

Guilt by association, right Gramm-pa?