Iraqi Oil, American Bonanza?
In a Post-War Iraq, U.S. Companies Could be Major Players
Excerpted from a talk by John W. Schoen on MSNBC
So far, U.S. oil companies have been stuck on the sidelines of the Iraqi oil
rush. Even if Saddam wanted to enlist U.S. firms in the rebuilding of Iraq's
oil infrastructure, U.N. sanctions - as well as U.S. laws - have barred
American oil companies from dealing with Baghdad.
But some analysts say it's unlikely that American firms will be left
empty-handed if the U.S. follows through on threats of military action.
"If you turn up and it's your tanks that dislodged the regime and you have
50,000 troops in the country and they're in your tanks, then you're going to
get the best deals," says Credit Suisse First Boston oil analyst Mark
Flannery. "That's the way it works. The French will have three men and a
1950s tank. That's just not going to work."
American oil companies are hoping to benefit from the industry's unusually
strong ties to the White House. President Bush, himself the former head of a
Texas oil company, has pursued a national energy policy that relies on
aggressively expanding new sources of oil. Vice President Dick Cheney is the
former CEO of oil services giant Halliburton. National security adviser
Condoleezza Rice is a former director of Chevron.
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