More on Halliburton and Pawning Iraq's oil

[k hanly <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,967601,00.html

Future oil sales may be pawned to banks

David Teather in New York
Saturday May 31, 2003
The Guardian

American officials are considering a plan to use Iraq's future oil and gas
revenues as collateral to raise cash to rebuild the country.
Several US companies, including Halliburton and Bechtel, which are jostling
for the lucrative reconstruction contracts, are reportedly pushing the
scheme to expedite the commissioning process.

Although the UN security council approved the resumption of oil exports from
Iraq last week, production has been hampered by looting.

But the plan raises questions about whether the interim authority, which is
under US auspices, should tie up the country's future oil and gas revenues.
It may also create problems for the permanent Iraqi authority, which may
seek to examine the contracts handed out by its forerunner.

Under the proposals, the loans would be made by government-backed agencies
in the US, Britain and Australia, as well as the commercial banking sector.
Iraq's annual oil exports could reach $25bn (£15bn).

It was disclosed yesterday that Halliburton, the oil services company
formerly run by the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, has already received
contracts worth $500m related to Iraq.

The Democratic congressman Henry Waxman, who has called for an inquiry into
the links between Halliburton and the Bush administration, obtained the
$500m figure from the US army. He warned that the company's future revenues
in Iraq were "limitless".

Halliburton has completed about $71m of work to extinguish oil-well fires
lit during the conflict. It has also earned $425m in Iraq-related projects
under a wide-ranging contract awarded at the end of 2001.

"It is simply remarkable that a single company could earn so much money from
the war in Iraq," Mr Waxman said in a letter to Les Brownlee, the acting
secretary of the army.