If anything brought a smile to George Bush's face yesterday, it would be the deal made in Iraq over oil and not his useless endorsement of presumptive nominee John McCain. Bush is only endorsing him because he won enough delegates, what Bush truly cares about is profits for his oil buddies/campaign contributors. Although the technical support agreement isn't all that they hoped for, it is definitely seen as a positive move in the quest for Iraqi oil.
From The International Herald Tribune:
Speaking to reporters as he arrived for a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, al-Shahristani said the Oil Ministry was still working on the compensation details with the Development Fund of Iraq, controlled by the U.S. and the U.N.
According to the Oil Ministry official, BP will submit a proposal for the Rumaila oil field, Chevron for West Qurna stage 1, Exxon for Zubair, and Shell for Missan and Kirkuk.
Iraq's average production was 2.4 million barrels per day in January while exports stood at an average of 1.92 million barrels per day. December's exports averaged 1.81 million barrels per day.
In dire need of expertise from international oil companies to achieve the Oil Ministry's target of 3 million barrels per day by the end of 2008, Iraq has been relying on a Saddam Hussein-era natural resources law until Parliament approves a new oil law to regulate the international oil companies' work and share Iraq's oil resources among the country's Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
Now this all sounds good in theory and our pResident can definitely try and use this to show 'progress' in Iraq, but reality tends to differ from White House press releases. These oil fields can not be operated from within the relatively safe Green Zone. Men must go out and operate equipment to drill oil from the ground and move it to port to be brought to market. There are many factors that exist in the Iraqi desert that could preclude said oil from making it to the preferred destination. Now that al-Qaeda and insurgent groups know that their oil will go into western hands, some may be angered enough to sabotage operations (and have already). So we'll see just how great these technical support agreements actually are.
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