Royal Dutch Shell and the struggle for Iraqi oil

Despite growing popular opposition, the Dutch government coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDA), Social Democrats (PvdA) and Christian Union (CU), under Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jan Pieter Balkenende, continues to provide military support to US imperialism in the Middle East and Central Asia.

One of the greatest beneficiaries of this support for American militarism is the oil multinational Royal Dutch Shell. The company was driven out of Iraq by the nationalisation of the oil industry in the 1970s under Saddam Hussein. Now, this Anglo-Dutch company is again preparing to exploit the most profitable oil fields in Iraq.
Earlier statements by Shell’s public relations department, claiming the company had no intention of re-entering the Iraqi oil sector, soon proved to be a smokescreen. With the first shots fired by American soldiers, Shell managers and lobbyists began the effort to secure a sizeable piece of the cake for the European energy giant.

Important elements in this lobbying network were and are the governments of Britain and the Netherlands—the two states in which the company is registered. Just a few days after the war began, Shell representatives went to Downing Street to see British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They insisted that the exploitation of Iraqi oil should not be left solely to American companies. The Dutch government accommodated the interests of the country’s largest transnational corporation by participating militarily in the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Over the last years, Royal Dutch Shell has also prepared itself internally for its penetration of Iraq. In 2004, the company established the post of Iraqi chairman. It is the most senior post of all the company’s overseas enterprises. Based in Dubai, this manager will head the oil and gas production for the company. The same year, the firm placed advertisements for an assistant to this chairman. This should be “a person of Iraqi descent,” with the “best contacts and insights into the network of significant families in Iraq,” explained the ad.

Since 2005, Shell has conducted technical studies into the Maysan oil field in southern Iraq and into the Kirkuk oil field in the north of the country. Shell has also got its sights set on the Rumaila oil field in the south, close to the Kuwaiti border.

As far as natural gas is concerned, Shell is pursuing an ambitious plan to become the leading company in the field of the production and sale of Iraqi gas. This year, in the city of Muscat in Oman, Shell presented a so-called gas master plan to former Iraqi oil minister Issam al-Chalabi, his deputy Abdul Jabbar al-Wakkaa and other high-ranking bureaucrats from the Iraqi oil industry. A further meeting then followed in the Netherlands. Today, al-Chalabi is an advisor to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Concrete steps to implement the gas master plan have already been taken. Together with Turkish enterprises, including Turkey’s state-run oil corporation, a pipeline is to be built taking Iraqi natural gas to the north and then via Turkish ports on to the European market. A meeting of Shell representatives with Turkish and American officials, together with the Turkish enterprises involved, has already taken place.

WSWS