again, for anyone still harboring a shred of doubt the purpose of the U.S. invasion/occuption of Iraq was to put the oil reserves “into the right hands”, read this:
he Anglo-Dutch group is close to announcing a partnership with the Turkish state oil business TPAO to build a gas export pipeline and reopen gas extraction in the northern republic of Kurdistan.
The pipeline is believed to run alongside an existing one which connects the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan with the giant Iraqi oilfield in Kirkuk. A Shell spokesman said the company has yet to sign any contracts but admitted it had been in talks about re-entering Iraq.Shell was one of the biggest players in Iraq from the 1920s right up until nationalisation of the oil industry by Saddam Hussein in 1972.
The US administration has been running the country’s oil industry since the invasion in 2003 but the Iraq government is poised to pass new legislation designed to encourage international oil and gas companiesto resume exploration and production in the country.
Last month Shell’s Matthias Bichsel, a senior exploration executive, confirmed that the company had met Iraqi officials in Oman, where Shell has a large gas project, to discuss plans for rebuilding Iraq’s gas industry. The company has also reportedly held talks over carrying out oilfield development in Kirkuk in the north and in the Maysan oilfield in the south.
