Filed under: Europe, Middle East | Tags: British Petroleum, Colonialism, Genocide, Imperialism, Iraq, Iraqi Oil, Iraqi Oil Fields, Racism, White Supremacy
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1 July 2009
Source: Global Research
Iraq’s government today approved a BP-led consortium’s offer to develop a giant oil field in the south, moving forward with the only deal struck during a much-hyped but ultimately disappointing international oil auction.
Iraq, which is desperate for cash to fund its reconstruction efforts, had put six oil and two gas fields on offer to foreign firms yesterday in the country’s first international oil licensing round in over three decades. But the auction — opposed from the start by many of the country’s lawmakers — failed to elicit the kind of excitement or commitments Iraqi oil officials had anticipated.
BP and its Chinese consortium partner CNPC walked away from the auction with development rights for the 17.8 billion barrel Rumaila field. But their win came only after they agreed to take less money for the oil they produced.
Under the service contracts, the companies are paid a per barrel price for production over a minimum target level. BP and CNPC had bid $3.99 per barrel, but slashed their price to the $2 per barrel payment sought by the oil ministry. Their only rivals for the fields, a consortium led by US giant Exxon Mobil, refused to amend its offer of $4.80 per barrel on target production of 3.1 million barrels per day.
The Cabinet of ministers signed off on the (more…)
Filed under: Middle East, North America | Tags: Colonialism, Genocide, Imperialism, Iraq, Iraqi Oil, Oil, Oil Fields, Racism, US Imperialism
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30 June 2009
Source: World Socialist Website
It is fitting that today’s deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq’s cities coincides with a meeting in Baghdad to auction off some of the country’s largest oil fields to companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and British Petroleum. It is a reminder of the real motives for the 2003 invasion and in whose interests over one million Iraqis and 4,634 American and other Western troops have been killed. The Iraq war was, and continues to be, an imperialist war waged by the American ruling elite for control of oil and geo-strategic advantage.
The contracts will facilitate the first large-scale exploitation of Iraq’s energy resources by US and other transnationals since the country’s oil industry was nationalised in 1972. On offer are 20-year rights over (more…)
Filed under: Africa
23 June 2009
Source: Black Agenda Report
“The embattled ‘government’ has abandoned all pretense of defending Somali national sovereignty.”
The so-called government of Somalia, an updated version of the government that was installed by U.S.-supported Ethiopian invaders, is now asking American allies in the region to invade the country, again. After losing all but a small patch of Mogadishu, the capital city, to Islamic nationalist forces, the speaker of the foreign-backed parliament called on “Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen” – anybody! – to save them from what he called “terrorists.” That’s the same line the United States uses to describe opposition forces – although even the New York Times concedes that the “vast majority” of the fighters are Somali.
Ethiopia, Somalia’s historic adversary in the region, declared it would invade once again if it felt seriously threatened by its neighbor. In fact, Ethiopian troops never fully withdrew from Somalia, but simply disengaged after suffering heavy casualties in their attempt to occupy the country following the 2006 invasion. That war was extremely unpopular at home, and Ethiopia’s military regime would rather not relive the experience.
With its call for yet another foreign invasion, the embattled, rump “government,” reduced to a dwindling domain of a few neighborhoods, has abandoned all pretense of defending Somali national sovereignty. It has surrendered its fate to Washington, the same superpower that instigated Ethiopia to (more…)
Filed under: Africa
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29 June 2009
Source: World Socialist Website
Southern Sudan faces a massive humanitarian crisis in what the United Nation’s humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Lise Grande, described as a “perfect storm”.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005 between the Sudanese government and the Southern ruling elites and backed by the United States, is in danger of unravelling. It has been shown to be incapable of solving the basic needs of the vast majority of the population.
The US backed the CPA because Southern independence could allow US oil companies to re-enter Sudan and compete with their Chinese counterparts. Under the CPA, all revenue was to be (more…)
Filed under: Asia | Tags: China, Development, Exports, Global Economy, Social Unrest
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25 June 2009
Source: World Socialist Website
The world’s second largest exporter, China, registered a record year-on-year fall in exports of 26.4 percent in May. The result followed similar trends in other export-led Asian economies including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, indicating continuing weak global demand.
China’s May export figure was worse than the 22.6 percent fall in April and is the seventh consecutive month of decline. The slide of exports is the worst since the data is collected in 1995. Imports also fell 25.2 percent year-on-year in May—a further indication of weakening exports as China imports large amounts of semi-finished goods and components for re-export.
Other Asian exporters have been hit by the recession in the US, Europe and Japan. South Korea and Taiwan saw 25-30 percent annual falls in exports and imports in May and Japanese exports tumbled by 40.9 percent. Overall world trade volume plunged by (more…)
