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Oil privatisation through the back door
Originally published in niqash.org In a survey in July 2003, Baghdad residents were asked what they thought was the main reason for America and Britain to go to war in Iraq. The most popular answer, with 47% of responses, was “to secure oil supplies”. At first glance, it would seem that America and Britain have…
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For whom, the wells drilled?
Originally published in niqash.org The debate over national vs. regional control of Iraq’s oil sector intensified last week, as the new Natural Resources Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) stated his opposition to amending the oil-related articles of the Constitution. In his first public statement since his appointment, Dr Ashti Hawrami argued that, “the…
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The black gold rush
Originally published on niqash.org It is an old cliché that politics is too important to be left to the politicians. But are new moves to decide the future shape of Iraq’s oil industry happening too fast to achieve public consensus – on issues that could both redraw the map and rewrite the history of Iraq?…
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Of Oil, War and Power – Learning From History
One year before he became US Vice President, Dick Cheney told an audience of oil company executives in London that, “[b]y 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day … While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the…
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Weapons of Mass Disruption: Fossil fuels and the Iranian nuclear crisis
Matthew Taylor and Paul Ingram, British American Security Information Council (BASIC) – This feature report was first published in Platform’s carbon web newsletter, issue 4. As the crisis between the international community and Iran escalates, the media continue to focus exclusively on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The nuclear issue is one part of the story. The international…
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Film: ‘Venezuela: the forgotten cost of oil’
Gabriele Muzio explains what inspired him to make a film among forgotten communities in Venezuela’s oil producing area – This feature report was first published in Platform's carbon web newsletter, issue 4. Venezuela’s president Chavez is arguably the only Latin American leader who dares challenge the Washington Consensus and US hegemony over the continent. The…
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The true cost of big bank’s bucks
PLATFORM investigates the role of RBS in financing oil and gas projects around the world – This report was first published in Platform’s carbon web newsletter, issue 4. February saw Britain’s private banks including Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC and Barclays post record profits. Revenues were boosted by the high oil price and the…
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Iraq steps toward long-term oil contracts
In late January, the International Monetary Fund finally released its Standby Agreement, signed with the Iraqi government a month previously. The Agreement provided a future financing facility, but more significantly allowed the cancellation of 30% of Iraq’s debt owed to the Paris Club of creditor nations – in exchange for Iraq’s compliance with the IMF’s…
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Signing away Iraq’s democracy
This report was first published in Platform’s carbon web newsletter, issue 3. As Carbon Web goes to press, Iraqi politicians are still haggling over the key roles in forming a new government. The outcome will be closely watched not only by Iraqis, but as a recent PLATFORM report reveals, by multinational oil companies, hoping to…
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Turbo-Charging Investor Sovereignty: Investment Agreements and Corporate Colonialism
[gview file=”https://platformlondon.org/app/uploads/2012/02/turbo_charge_invstr_sov-1.pdf”] How draconian legal agreements have guaranteed corporate profits in the Caucasus at the expense of host countries, and are set to be applied in Iraq. Jointly written with the Corner House, and published as a chapter of Destroy and Profit: Wars, Disasters and Corporations, by Focus on the Global South.