China Seeks Military Capabilities Beyond Its Region, U.S. Says

Interesting article... it should have talked about other commodities besides oil though... How is the world going to feed 8 billion people? The answer to that question will determine how many future wars are fought.

BP Begins Big Push To Revive Iraq's Oil

Iraq's Rumaila oilfield

I've been advocating for bringing in Western oil companies into Iraq for quite some time to stablize Iraq; the main question is will they be able to secure the main pipelines from Kirkuk to Baghdad, Mosul to Baghdad, and Baghdad to Basra. If they do this then Iraq can expand its pipelines even more. The great thing is there is a mountain range between Iraq and Iran making pipelines into Iran cost-prohibitive. If Iran wanted to pay for one though, why not push for it? It could be one concession to Iran and if we supported it they might start to treat us with a little more respect? Also, pushing for a trans-Turkey pipeline from Mosul could be spectacular. But, as I've said, they need to secure the three main pipelines first...

The Future of Iran

Of particular interest:

To the average Iranian, foreign policy is out there as an issue. They care about their place in the world and want Iran to be strong, powerful, influential and well-liked. They don’t like that Iran is isolated and that it’s seen as a pariah by so many countries. But foreign policy is very far down their list of priorities. The thing that really looms large to them is the economy, which is not doing well at all. If foreign policy is a mixed bag, it’s very hard to find any silver lining in the dark cloud of Iran’s economy. Iranian oil production, on which their economy is heavily dependent, is declining. At least one oil economist suspects that the Iranians may wind up being a net importer of oil within the next decade, because their production is declining while their consumption continues to increase. Production is declining so badly that the Iranians can no longer even fill their OPEC quota, which is astounding given that when the Shah was in power, they were the second largest oil exporter in the world. It will require huge amounts of investment and Western technology to repair the damage done to Iran’s oil industry and the bolster its oil production. The technocrats in Iran’s oil industry are very good and sharp, and they know that. They’ll take the Chinese technology if it’s all they can get, but it’s not what they want. They’re desperate for Exxon, Conoco, Chevron and Shell. That’s one of the reasons the sanctions are so painful to them.

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Iraq resumes oil exports following storm

Odierno delivers... already!

Iraq Rejects No-Bid Contracts

This is pretty sad and is one more example of how important political reconciliation is in Iraq. Iraq's parliament needs to agree on a hydrocarbon law immediately! At least Shell obtained a natural gas deal by agreeing to capture natural gas currently being burned off during oil production in Southern Iraq...

BP tests Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) line; oil flow to resume 'next week'

Hmmmmmmmm.............................

What would J.R. Ewing do?

U.K. Takes Softer Tack In Dealing With Russia

Onager says: Interesting article from The Wall Street Journal. Of particular note is how Russia is painting the U.K.'s response to American saber rattling as one sign that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting was "a failure for Washington." In addition, the mention that "U.K. oil company BP PLC is fighting with its Russian joint-venture partner" adds an interesting aspect to Britain's actions. This correlates nicely with the many claims that Russia is a petrostate adding domination of Europe to its already established track record of bullying its former satellite states due to controlling their oil pipelines in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

J.R. says: "It seems as if Britain has some shady dealings going on with the Russian cartel... I always knew that Gordon Brown is a long lost relative of Cliff Barnes. I always said keep your eye on your friends, because your enemies will take care of themselves!""



Iraq Poised to Revive Oil Contract With China

Onager says: So perhaps now China can come into Iraq and protect Iraq's oil pipeline? Also, the article makes an interesting mention at how Saddam Hussein "had revoked a contract with the Russian oil giant Lukoil for one of the largest fields." Could that have been because of Russia's cozy relationship with Iran?

J.R. says: "I guarantee China will get that oil flowing. Like my Daddy always said, 'Where there's a way, there's a will.' We need that oil to flow as much as we need the Red River to keep us separated from Barnes' cousins up north in Oklahoma."

Putin the Terrible

Of particular note from this article is the argument that Russia wants to exert control over Georgia because of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline that connects the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea... if this is indeed true, which it probably is, it poses problems because Turkey will be affected and is a NATO ally.

Once the Kremlin's control was established, there was little anyone could do about Russian expansionism. Europe imports vast amounts of natural gas and oil from Russia. The threat to reduce or cut off supplies, for instance by ceasing shipments through Ukraine, a major transit route, served to blackmail the European Union.

Russia would like to get its hands on everything that lies between the Baltic and the Caucasus (beyond that, its big southern neighbor, Kazakhstan, ruled by a tyrant sitting on oil, is already a friend of Moscow's). But there are some hurdles, including the fact that the Baltic and most of the Balkans are part of the European Union and NATO. Which leaves Georgia and Ukraine, whose revolutions in 2003 and 2004 were seen as a powerful assertion of Western values in a region that Russia considers its backyard, as the easiest targets.

Russian nationalists, who are impetuous but not crazy, know well that Central Europe is beyond their reach, but they could seriously undermine those nations if they controlled their next-door neighbor, Ukraine. And Georgia would give them control of the transit route between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, which is to say the Mediterranean.

Iraq Oil Rush

This editorial brings up important points, but fails to acknowledge that the "understandable suspicions in the Arab world about oil being America's real reason for invading Iraq" do not have to be "rekindled" - they are deeply ingrained in society. The fact of the matter is that the oil giants may help get Iraq's oil infrastructure up and running because profit depends on it.

Ideally Iraqis could do this themselves, but alas, the government is not functioning and, as the editorial states, there is "evidence of continued deep divisions in Iraq over whether oil should be controlled by central or regional government, whether international oil companies should be involved in development and how the profits should be distributed." The Kurd-Sunni-Shia tripartite Iraq is not functioning, so perhaps the oil giants could help make some money for the failing central government...

It is about time... Western Oil Companies in Iraq

I love how French oil company Total is all about Iraq. This makes us look even more like imperialists, but the fact of the matter is we already have egg on our face:

Total, Iraq in service agreement discussions


Big Oil Firms Ready to Sign Agreements With Iraq