Report: How the Oil Companies are ripping off the Iraqi's PSA's

[Joanne98]

Executive Summary

While the Iraqi people struggle to define their future amid political chaos and violence, the fate of their most valuable economic asset, oil, is being decided behind closed doors.

This report reveals how an oil policy with origins in the US State Department is on course to be adopted in Iraq, soon after the December elections, with no public debate and at enormous potential cost. The policy allocates the majority (1) of Iraq’s oilfields – accounting for at least 64% of the country’s oil reserves – for development by multinational oil companies.

Iraqi public opinion is strongly opposed to handing control over oil development to foreign companies. But with the active involvement of the US and British governments a group of powerful Iraqi politicians and technocrats is pushing for a system of long term contracts with foreign oil companies which will be beyond the reach of Iraqi courts, public scrutiny or democratic control.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2005/crudedesigns.htm

This is a long report so I'm putting it here. It's the best information we've gotten so far. PSA's are "profit sharing agreements". The Iraqi's got SCREWED bigtime. It's a great report with charts and graphics and everything.

Contents...

Executive Summary

Glossary

Chapters:


1 - The ultimate prize: Anglo-American interests in Gulf oil
2 - Re-thinking privatisation: Production sharing agreements

3 - Pumping profits: Big Oil and the push for PSAs

4 - From Washington to Baghdad: Planning Iraq's oil future

5 - Contractual rip-off: the cost of PSAs to Iraq

6 - A better deal: Options for investment in Iraqi oil

7 - Conclusion

Appendices:

1 - How a Production Sharing Agreement works

2 - Discounting in oilfield economics – key concepts

3 - Iraqi oilfield data

4 - Economic analysis - methodology and assumptions

References

About the publishers


List of tables:


5.1 - Impact of PSAs on Iraqi state revenues
5.2 - Impact of PSAs on discounted Iraqi state revenues

5.3 - Impact of PSAs on Iraqi revenues at different oil prices

5.4 - Impact of PSAs on oil company profitability

5.5 - Oil company profitability at different oil prices

6.1 - Foreign investment in the world’s major oil reserves

A3.1 - Data on 25 undeveloped Iraqi oilfields

[indepat]

1. Makes one wonder if this invasion and occupation were always about oil,

empire, and hegemony.