Thirty-six years after Western oil giants were ejected from Iraq by Saddam Hussein, the Iraq Oil Ministry has awarded two-year, no-bid contracts to the same companies. The deals with U.S.-based ExxonMobil and Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total, and Great Britain’s BP are for oil-field repair work and technical support, but give these companies the inside track to securing enormously lucrative oil-drilling licenses. Iraq’s vast oil fields remain largely undeveloped, with some experts estimating that $30 trillion of oil still lies under its sands. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. played no role in securing the deals, though Americans still advise the Iraq Oil Ministry.
In Washington, a group of Democratic senators sought to block final approval of the contracts. The lawmakers said in a letter to Rice that contracts should not be awarded until Iraq enacts a long-delayed law aimed at assuring that oil riches are equitably divided among Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. Without such a law, said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, Iraq could become “one of these petro-feudal states, with different factions warring for the oil.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
America's favorite fast food restaurantsThe Explainer There are different ways of thinking about how Americans define how they most like to spend their money on burgers, tacos and fried chicken
-
Law: The battle over birthright citizenshipFeature Trump shifts his focus to nationwide injunctions after federal judges block his attempt to end birthright citizenship
-
The threat to the NIHFeature The Trump administration plans drastic cuts to medical research. What are the ramifications?
-
Putin’s threat to fracture Ukrainefeature Fears that Russia was building a pretext for an invasion of eastern Ukraine grew, as pro-Kremlin protesters occupied government buildings in three cities.
-
Curbing NSA surveillance
feature The White House said it will propose a broad overhaul of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.
-
Downsizing the military
feature A new budget plan for the Pentagon would save hundreds of billions of dollars by taking the military off its post-9/11 war footing.
-
Putin ratchets up pressure on Ukraine
feature Russian President Vladimir Putin put 150,000 troops at the Ukraine border on high alert and cut off $15 billion in financial aid.
-
Ukraine on the brink of civil war
feature Ukraine’s capital was engulfed in flames and violence when hundreds of riot police launched an assault on an anti-government protest camp.
-
Ukraine at the breaking point
feature An alliance of opposition groups vowed protests would continue until President Viktor Yanukovych is removed from power.
-
Dim prospects for Syrian talks
feature A long-awaited Syrian peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland, quickly degenerated into a cross fire of bitter accusations.
-
The fight over jobless benefits
feature A bill to restore federal benefits for the long-term unemployed advanced when six Republican senators voted with Democrats.