Iraq Oil Industry

For many years the Iraq oil industry provided Saddam Hussein a means for fighting wars and living in a lap of luxury while his people lived in poverty. He earned what he got for living and wasting the resources of Iraq and the Iraqi people the way he did.

For years oil was pumped through systems that were antiquated, dilapidated and outdated. After the wars the oil industry was in ruins but the United States went to work to try to rebuild it and get money flowing into the cash-strapped country.

The market was primed. Everyone needed oil and would pay a high price to get it. But the insurgents attacked the failing industry. For years they reduced the output blowing up the pipe line whenever and however they felt like.

Mafia-like deals were made with insurgents who insisted the oil be trucked and not piped. Then they stole the oil and smuggled it from their own trucks.

In the beginning the United States developed the Iraq oil industry. Then the United States and other countries were kicked out of Iraq as Iraq took over complete control of the oil industry. I can remember this and it seemed like it happened overnight.

In order to fix its facilities and pipe lines, Iraq had decided to lease the oil fields. They thought large oil companies would jump at the opportunity to rebuild the Iraq oil industry.

But the large oil companies remembered the last time and how much money it cost them when they were booted out. They do not want to pay the enormous fees demanded by the Mafia-type insurgents who say pay us or we will blow up the pipe lines. Of course, not all of this is talked about in the open. Somethings remain a secret.

Exxon, Shell, Total, BP, and others were invited to attend these meetings. Iraqis were offering no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest oil fields.

Iraqi officials were slapping themselves on the back for their ingenious plan to fix the fields once again. Their greedy little hands were counting all the money they would be making and wondering how they could steal some of it to fill their own personal coffers.

Those working in customs also starting counting all the money they would make under the table from the deals they would cut to get the supplies into the country these companies needed to get the oil fields working. "You do not want to pay our fees. Fine, your materials will sit on the dock for a while since we are two months behind."

And the lines of those with their hands out started to grow.

They would get their cake along with the ice cream as well. It would cost them nothing. And then the prices spiked. "Wow," they thought. "We have to get these major oil companies in here right now so they can get our oil flowing for us."

So they came up with a plan. Invitations were sent and few came. Worse yet, those who came did not offer up much money to fix the aligning Iraq oil industry. And to top it off, they wanted more of the money than the Iraqis were willing to give.

"What about security? You have insurgents who will try to kill us. The Iraqi officials looked at each other and said, "No problem, we have them under control," as a bomb goes off rocking the building.

One thing we must stipulate the Iraqi officials said, "You must hire Iraqis to do the work. No foreigners in the Iraq oil industry.

But then their brilliant plan was not accepted by all in Iraq. The three factions wanted to know how they were going to get their share. The money would not be put into government coffers but individual groups would get their share.

But what is their share? Already the piece of pie for each was starting to get smaller and smaller. This minor but important piece of the pie would tie the hands of all and no one would get any pie.

No oil laws.

So, no bid contracts were offered to get around this. We are going to get our pie and get to eat it after all. Smiles were on everyone's faces again.

But the haggling went on. Back and forth, back and forth until a deal was struck. The oil companies started pumping the oil out of the ground.

Our story was all set to have a happy ending but then environmentalists from the United States showed up....

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