U.S. CAUTIONS EUROPEANS TO AVOID OIL, GAS DEALS WITH IRAN
February 2nd, 2007I should probably start work on a prepared statement to post once this thing finally goes off the rails. It might be hard to put coherent sentences together after witnessing what is about to happen.
Via: Washington Post:
The Bush administration is warning European oil and gas companies against investing in Iran, trying to head off a push by Tehran to attract new investment by international petroleum giants.
In the past two weeks, the administration has met with European oil company executives about the Middle East, and during one session a senior State Department official cautioned that the situation with Iran was “hot and is going to get hotter,” one executive said.
An executive from another major European company said, “The administration is putting the full-court press on foreign companies and is going all out to impress upon them that it would be a mistake to do anything with” Iran.
Despite the administration’s pressure, however, many of the world’s biggest oil companies were expected to attend a meeting in Vienna today and tomorrow held by National Iranian Oil Co. to drum up interest in 12 onshore and five offshore blocks. Executives from Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Russia’s Lukoil, China’s Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp. and Austria’s OMV will give presentations.
Ok, so they are arm twisting the EU not to do deals w/Iran: what leverage do they have?
Close to none. One of the first effect of the invasion of Iraq was to evict EU oil companies (except UK) from the country. The EU is perfectly aware that the last thing on the US mind is to be considerate of the interest of their “friends and allies”, so if they have an opportunity to invest/buy oil in Iran and pay for it in Euros instead of petrodollars, why would they hesitate?
Losing investment money in Iran, with a risky chance of getting something back for it, or being sure to be gouged by the US whatever the outcome…
The US has given no reason to the EU to trust them, and the US has nothing to propose in exchange of the EU playing against its own interest in Iran. Besides, Russia and China and already heavily involved in Iran’s fossil fuels, there is precious little time left for the EU to do the same, since they have been kicked out of Iraq…The only reason why the EU accomodated the US so far, is that their export driven economies need US overconsumption to sell their stuff. Which is why Japan, China and the EU (in that order) are de facto subsidizing the US into continue burying itself into financial oblivion… If the US middle class goes down the drain, the usefulness of the US as an export outlet (central imperial economy)is dead, (the EU knows it) then why would they accomodate the US in depriving themselves of an golden fossil fuel deal, which is the only thing that would be left.
I do not believe american elite have an accurate pisture or understand EU position: they still believe things are as they were a decade ago, while the EU has since then shifted in damage control mode…
None of Iran’s oil makes it to the US. It goes to Europe. Futhermore, Europe, and particularly Germany, needs to lessen its dependence on Russia for natural gas; unless huge oil reserves are found in Provence, Iran’s their only viable option.
My assessment: The Ruling Class is manipulating Iran with the Good Cop (EU) /Bad Cop (US) charade, in order to consistently obtain information about the Iranian ruling regime’s behavior.
This will allow the Ruling Class’s Cujo, the U.S., to attack Iran in a manner that minimizes its use of war resources (as the U.S. is currently depending on the goodwill of those countries that will be directly harmed by this attack, i.e. Russia, China and the Middle Eastern oil exporting countries, to provide the financial resources for the attack),
and then,
after the most destructive war known to mankind and during its genetically-engineered-virus-pandemic and falsely-fomented-natural-disaster filled aftermath has finished wiping out a significant portion of the world’s population,
give the rights to Iran’s oil reserves to
1. a europe-based international oil corporation, or
2. an america-based one,
3. or both, or,
4. perhaps, to a newly created international ownership body specifically designed to oversee and control the usage of the world’s oil reserves in the forthcoming new financial and economic order.
In addition to the evidence contained in this post that this may be the Ruling Class’s manner of operating, the following facts are pertinent: BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon are about to receive 30-year contracts to exploit Iraq’s oil reserves.
p.s.
I predict The Billionaire’s Bloodlust–a sociopathic desire among the world’s wealthiest individuals, such as Paul Allen (and, perhaps, the majority of his Imperium Renewables staff), to own or control ALL the world’s resources–will lead to the deaths of no less than 500 million people in the short term (over the next 10 years) and two-thirds of the world’s population in the long term (50-200 years out).