But, hey this Iraq war has nothing at all to do with oil. We’re just trying to bring peace and freedom. *wink wink*
Reuters: Iraq opposition to discuss oil at U.S. meeting:
WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department will host a group of Iraqi opposition members later this month to discuss expanding Iraq’s oil and natural gas sector after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a department official said on Tuesday.
Iraq has the world’s second biggest crude oil reserves, and the money brought in from more oil exports could restore the country’s economy if the United States attacks Iraq and removes Saddam from power.
“Oil and gas are the natural engine for rebuilding Iraq,” the State Department official told Reuters. …
Between 12 and 30 Iraqi opposition members will take part in the State Department meeting, which should last about two days. In addition to oil and natural gas, there will be working group discussions on Iraqi education, defense, refugees, economy and infrastructure.
U.S. officials will take part in the discussions, but there will be no commercial or trade group representatives.
Nonetheless, the United States is interested in making sure American oil firms don’t miss out on investment opportunities in a post-Saddam government to develop Iraq’s oil field and upgrade its energy facilities.
“Naturally, U.S. policy generally across the board is to maximize U.S. economic and commercial influence,” the official said.
Iraq has oil reserves of 112 billion barrels and the country also contains 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“Iraq’s true resource potential may be far greater than this, however, as the country is relatively unexplored due to years of war and sanctions,” the EIA said in its latest country brief on Iraq.