China marches past USA to stake a claim to Iraq's oil

telegraph ^ | 07 Sep 2008 | Damien McElroy

[sidewinder009]

China has secured Baghdad's first post-Saddam Hussein oil deal by reviving a 1997 concession to exploit reserves on the al-Ahdab field south of the capital. The two countries are expected to formally sign an agreement later this month that will earn the state-controlled China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) a fixed price for every barrel it produces in Iraq.

While China opposed the Iraq war and stood back from post-war rebuilding, Beijing has quietly outflanked its global rivals to grab a large slice of Iraq's oil industry. The pioneers of its overseas quest for fuel are already exploring vast tracts in the Kurdish north of the war-torn nation. America contested every step of China's drive to expand its oil industry in central Asia and Africa for more than a decade, viewing the push overseas as a boost for Beijing's diplomatic standing.

Beijing's success in the latest battleground represents a double blow for Washington whose troops are still fighting daily for Iraq's security. With the return of stability, Baghdad hopes that its output can triple to six million barrels per day. As the American military presence in Iraq shrinks, the al-Ahdab deal is one of a host of signs that Beijing is well-placed to rival US ties to post-war Iraq.

An affinity with Chairman Mao Zedong, a leader who killed 10 times as many as the vilified Saddam, drew President Jalal Talabani to China last year. But when President Talabani paid $100 million for Chinese-made Kalashnikov rifles, America was so displeased it sent all Iraqi security forces on a training programme to use US M4 rifles.

[donnab]

I guess Congress is in such a hurry to get us out of there they overlooked this.

[Delmarksman]

Sweeet!
(read: Ha! take that America, how do ya like me now)

[Dogbert41]

This is what happens when half the country and the Democrat party appose a war. WE absolutely get screwed. NO BLOOD FOR OIL they shout until Bush makes absolute certainty that there will be NO OIL for us just to prove that we are so high and mighty.

Makes me want to puke. We should leave iraq now, burning up the oil fields as we leave.

[goldfinch]

Just as well the Chinese get Iraq’s oil. As all good Democrats know, only oil used by the United States contributes to global warming.

[VeniVidiVici]

Probably more to this than meets the eye. Brit newspapers rank just above the Enquirer and just below our own.

[Roy Tucker]

I am sure the lefties will be protesting that!

[Carry_Okie]

We owe them money.

[thatdewd]

Unreal.

[Zhang Fei]

I don't fully get all the stupid articles about China's rush to overpay for commodities. The fact is this - any country can buy as much of any commodity it wants at the market price. We did not have to invade Iraq to buy their oil, and it wasn't why we did it. If one country doesn't sell us oil, another one will. The fact is that all commodity prices, like water, seek their own level. China's paranoid stupidity has nothing to do with great strategy and everything to do with its deeply felt superiority complex and conviction that China knows better because China's civilization has stagnated been around for 5,000 years. It's kind of like a panhandler's feeling of superiority because his forebears were Morgans or Rockefellers.

[sasafras]

WTF????? We freed them, paid the price in blood and communist china is given first dibs????? This has to be a joke. This is the thanks that we get from Iraq? Is anybody else thinking that we should be sending a bill pretty soon and if its not paid we’ll be taking our part out of the money we send to the UN.

This really is infuriating.

[LomanBill]

Is this Quid-Pro-Quo for China to keep buying our national debt?

[staytrue]

take a chill pill.

we sell alaskan oil to japan and maybe china too because it is cheaper to ship it there and import from mexico instead

if china buys iraqi oil, then they will buy less somewhere else which we can buy.

iraq is quite close to china so this makes sense.

[Onelifetogive]

I’m assuming that all of the leftist nutjobs who have been shouting “No war for oil!” for the past few years will now be whining that Bush failed to get this oil...

[A CA Guy]

They are Muslims and I guess they have no loyalties.

Drill here, drill now.

[ZULU]

The Red CHinese NEED that oil!!! Without it they can;t make the cheap junk they sell us at inflated prices to fund their military machine!!!

Its called “globalization”!!

[Hamilcar_Barca]

If Iraq signed with U.S. companies Sen. Schumer and the Democrats would demand a congressional investigation. In fact they did when Iraq signed a contract with U.S. companies to help with refurbish Iraq oil infrastructure. Actually getting the oil would be even worse.

[yankeedame]

Excellent observation, Zhang Fei. A tip o' my hat to you.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Good they can now afford to pay us for our services provided.

[bill1952]

Brit newspapers rank just above the Enquirer and just below our own...

Um, Brit newspapers generaly rank BELOW the Enquirer as a source of news, and rather below Pravda for all that is worth.

The world is in serious trouble...

[sidewinder009]

Exactly my thoughts!!The shia leadership of iran is pro-china, pro-iran. they have what 70 billion? dollar surplus? it’s abt. time they start footing the war/COIN(counter insurgency) bill.