All About Oil

Australia 'has Iraq oil interest'


Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has admitted that securing oil supplies is a key factor behind the presence of Australian troops in Iraq.

Australia has about 1,500 military personnel in the GulfAustralian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has admitted that securing oil supplies is a key factor behind the presence of Australian troops in Iraq.
He said maintaining "resource security" in the Middle East was a priority.
But PM John Howard has played down the comments, saying it was "stretching it a bit" to conclude that Australia's Iraq involvement was motivated by oil.
The remarks are causing heated debate as the US-led Iraq coalition has avoided linking the war and oil.
Oil concerns
Australia was involved in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has about 1,500 military personnel still deployed in the region.
There are no immediate plans to bring them home.
In comments to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Mr Nelson admitted that the supply of oil had influenced Australia's strategic planning in the region.
"Obviously the Middle East itself, not only Iraq but the entire region, is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the rest of the world," he said.
"Australians and all of us need to think what would happen if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq.
"It's in our interests, our security interests, to make sure that we leave the Middle East, and leave Iraq in particular, in a position of sustainable security."

Australians and all of us need to think what would happen if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq
Brendan NelsonThis is thought to be the first time the Australian government has admitted any link between troop deployment in Iraq and securing energy resources.

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Excerpt

- including laws to share oil revenues...I speak to the Prime Minister and I speak to the Presidency Council quite often, and I remind them we expect the government to function, and to pass law.
And apparently all the Iraqi government needed was a reminder, because two days ago, Tony Snow announced that Bush:
...had phone calls with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the three members...They do report that they have now transmitted to the council of representatives, their legislature, the oil law, and are hoping quite soon to have a related piece of legislation, one that has to deal with the distribution of oil and hydrocarbon revenues, before the legislature quite soon.
Quite soon lasted until yesterday:
Attempts to pass a key oil law sought by the U.S. were snarled once more Wednesday by deep differences among Iraq's Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders, delaying parliament debate despite the prime minister's claims of a breakthrough.
But it was probably just some little glitch, some minor detail to be ironed out, right?
The influential Sunni organization, the Association of Muslim Scholars, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, blasting the bill as "religiously forbidden" and warned that those who back it "anger God for usurping public money." [...]
But the Kurds also objected, fearing concessions had been made to the Sunnis. The Kurdistan Regional Government warned it would oppose the bill if it made "material and substantive changes" to an outline agreed upon during weeks of negotiations. [...]
Meanwhile, the Shiite party loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which opposes too much decentralization, outright rejected the draft, saying it "left nothing of Iraq's unity."
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THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: DELAY ON LEGISLATION; FALLOUJA INVESTIGATION
Obstacles pile up for Iraq oil bill
Internal dissent among lawmakers keeps debate from opening on the crucial bill. National leaders urge cooperation.
By Tina Susman, Times Staff WriterJuly 5, 2007
BAGHDAD — Political infighting blocked lawmakers from opening debate Wednesday on legislation to oversee the oil industry as Iraqi and U.S. leaders used the Fourth of July holiday to call for reconciliation among Iraq's feuding factions.An influential group of Sunni Muslim clerics, the Assn. of Muslim Scholars, joined the fray surrounding the oil bill Wednesday by issuing a fatwa, or religious edict, forbidding legislators to vote for it. "Whoever does so will be exposed to God's wrath and will have committed the crime of collaboration with the enemy," said a statement from the group, a fierce opponent of the U.S. occupation.The developments were an ominous sign for U.S. and Iraqi leaders, who have counted on passage of the legislation to show evidence of political progress before parliament starts a monthlong break July 31. U.S. officials must give Congress a progress report on Iraq in September, leaving little time for the measure to win approval.Also Wednesday, two U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq. One died in Nineveh province in the northwest when a helicopter was shot down. A second soldier was injured in the incident. In southern Baghdad another soldier was killed, the military announced, bringing to at least 3,588 the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq theater since the American-led invasion of March 2003.