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Israel Oil Contract (C&P) DHeffley--Comments, Plea
HAIRY
Member Posts: 23,606
Oil from Israel contracted for sale to Iraq
Iason Athanasiadis
Special to the Daily Star
ATHENS: An Israeli oil firm has surprised the Arab world by winning a lucrative contract to supply the US Army in Iraq with oil.
Israel's Sonol Fuel Company, a subsidiary of Granite Hacarmel, will supply US forces in Iraq with fuel through a partnership with an unnamed Jordanian firm, according to Kuwaiti petroleum sources speaking to The Daily Star.
The Israeli-Jordanian partnership will supply the US Army in north Iraq with some 34,000 metric tons of fuel each month, according to reports.
Daily Star sources say shipments have been delivered for the past two weeks. They are being transported across Israel and Jordan by railway and into Iraq.
Industry experts are baffled as to why Israel has been chosen for the deal when Turkey supplied northern Iraq with around 300,000 metric tons of gas over the course of six months in 2003.
Press reports have said that Sonol is working in conjunction with an international firm, said to be Morgantown International. They put the value of the deal at $70-80 million.
Officials at Sonol and Kellogg, Brown & Root did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Repeated requests for an interview to Sonol were referred to Fleisher Communications, a company handling Sonol's media relations. "The formal comment is that we cannot comment about it and are giving out no details," a spokeswoman said.
The tender was issued by the US-based KBR Company, a subsidiary of Halliburton, that has been entrusted with the majority of contracts for the US troops in Iraq. Among Sonol's competitors was Delek, another Israeli company.
According to press reports, imported fuel will pass through the fuel terminal operated by Tashan, an oil and energy infrastructure firm, in the north of the Israeli desert city of Beer Sheva.
Arab oil analysts speaking to The Daily Star said it does not make economic sense to award Israel the contract as it is not an oil-exporting country. This means that Sonol will be acting as a go-between, forwarding gas to Iraq at a profit and driving the value of the contract higher for KBR. The controversial US firm has already been charged with overcharging the US Army.
"The oil could come from Egypt, could be from Russia, could be Azerbaijan," said Walid Khadduri, editor of the Cyprus-based Middle East Economic Survey. "Israel imports all its oil, it doesn't have any."
While it would have made better financial sense for the contract to be awarded to companies operating in gasoline-refining countries adjoining northern Iraq such as Syria, Iran or Turkey, political sensitivities may have kept Halliburton from considering them.
"State Oil Marketing Organisation imports products from Syria and Iran," said Khadduri. "Halliburton does not do so because the administration does not want to assist Syria or Iran."
"At the end of the day, Israel is buying from the market and doesn't produce, so it needs to make its profit from somewhere," said Mohammad al-Shatti, the manager of markets research at Kuwait's Petroleum Ministry. "For example, all our gas for the domestic market is imported from outside of Kuwait, at extra cost. Of course it should not be done as you're talking about the Arab world."
The Maariv daily ran the news with the subtitle: Israel has yet to sell coals to Newcastle, but sending oil to Iraq comes close.
"The entry of Israeli firms in Iraq will cause further complications to the Americans and there will be popular reactions against this action," said Syrian economist Samir Seifan. "If the Americans try to arrange this without taking into consideration the feelings of the people and Arab interests, they will be giving Israel an extra gift without returning to Arabs any of their rights."
Syria, considered by the Bush administration an enemy alongside Iran, has lost up to $3 billion annually in bilateral trade with Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Sonol will most likely be providing the US Army with gas imported from the EU, a net exporter. The company snapped up 130,000 tons of Azerbaijani crude oil in February and is talking of building an oil refinery in southern Israel's Arava region that adjoins Jordan, said Israel's Maariv paper. A spokeswoman for Sonol denied this report.
Problems with rehabilitating Iraq's oil network have left US officials and private contractors with the task of importing oil into a country that holds between 12-20 percent of the world's oil reserves.
Continuing sabotage strikes against Iraq's oil infrastructure have crippled the country's export capability. Until now, US forces have received most of their fuel from Kuwait. However, the US Army decided to explore other options, following Halliburton's admission that it had overcharged the US military. Whereas Sonol's deal relates to northern Iraq and is not a replacement of the Kuwaiti contract, a tender for the south of the country will be submitted on March 8 with the contract starting in April.
Sonol is among Israel's three largest oil product marketing firms and boasts a network of over 200 service stations. Israeli companies have been seeking to make inroads into Iraq's potentially lucrative market in recent months. But despite isolated cases where Israel's retail sector has been successful, Israel is more likely to covertly promote its hi-tech products. Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority awarded a contract worth $4-5 million to Iridium Israel for mobile satellite communication services.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to virtue.
Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
Iason Athanasiadis
Special to the Daily Star
ATHENS: An Israeli oil firm has surprised the Arab world by winning a lucrative contract to supply the US Army in Iraq with oil.
Israel's Sonol Fuel Company, a subsidiary of Granite Hacarmel, will supply US forces in Iraq with fuel through a partnership with an unnamed Jordanian firm, according to Kuwaiti petroleum sources speaking to The Daily Star.
The Israeli-Jordanian partnership will supply the US Army in north Iraq with some 34,000 metric tons of fuel each month, according to reports.
Daily Star sources say shipments have been delivered for the past two weeks. They are being transported across Israel and Jordan by railway and into Iraq.
Industry experts are baffled as to why Israel has been chosen for the deal when Turkey supplied northern Iraq with around 300,000 metric tons of gas over the course of six months in 2003.
Press reports have said that Sonol is working in conjunction with an international firm, said to be Morgantown International. They put the value of the deal at $70-80 million.
Officials at Sonol and Kellogg, Brown & Root did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Repeated requests for an interview to Sonol were referred to Fleisher Communications, a company handling Sonol's media relations. "The formal comment is that we cannot comment about it and are giving out no details," a spokeswoman said.
The tender was issued by the US-based KBR Company, a subsidiary of Halliburton, that has been entrusted with the majority of contracts for the US troops in Iraq. Among Sonol's competitors was Delek, another Israeli company.
According to press reports, imported fuel will pass through the fuel terminal operated by Tashan, an oil and energy infrastructure firm, in the north of the Israeli desert city of Beer Sheva.
Arab oil analysts speaking to The Daily Star said it does not make economic sense to award Israel the contract as it is not an oil-exporting country. This means that Sonol will be acting as a go-between, forwarding gas to Iraq at a profit and driving the value of the contract higher for KBR. The controversial US firm has already been charged with overcharging the US Army.
"The oil could come from Egypt, could be from Russia, could be Azerbaijan," said Walid Khadduri, editor of the Cyprus-based Middle East Economic Survey. "Israel imports all its oil, it doesn't have any."
While it would have made better financial sense for the contract to be awarded to companies operating in gasoline-refining countries adjoining northern Iraq such as Syria, Iran or Turkey, political sensitivities may have kept Halliburton from considering them.
"State Oil Marketing Organisation imports products from Syria and Iran," said Khadduri. "Halliburton does not do so because the administration does not want to assist Syria or Iran."
"At the end of the day, Israel is buying from the market and doesn't produce, so it needs to make its profit from somewhere," said Mohammad al-Shatti, the manager of markets research at Kuwait's Petroleum Ministry. "For example, all our gas for the domestic market is imported from outside of Kuwait, at extra cost. Of course it should not be done as you're talking about the Arab world."
The Maariv daily ran the news with the subtitle: Israel has yet to sell coals to Newcastle, but sending oil to Iraq comes close.
"The entry of Israeli firms in Iraq will cause further complications to the Americans and there will be popular reactions against this action," said Syrian economist Samir Seifan. "If the Americans try to arrange this without taking into consideration the feelings of the people and Arab interests, they will be giving Israel an extra gift without returning to Arabs any of their rights."
Syria, considered by the Bush administration an enemy alongside Iran, has lost up to $3 billion annually in bilateral trade with Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Sonol will most likely be providing the US Army with gas imported from the EU, a net exporter. The company snapped up 130,000 tons of Azerbaijani crude oil in February and is talking of building an oil refinery in southern Israel's Arava region that adjoins Jordan, said Israel's Maariv paper. A spokeswoman for Sonol denied this report.
Problems with rehabilitating Iraq's oil network have left US officials and private contractors with the task of importing oil into a country that holds between 12-20 percent of the world's oil reserves.
Continuing sabotage strikes against Iraq's oil infrastructure have crippled the country's export capability. Until now, US forces have received most of their fuel from Kuwait. However, the US Army decided to explore other options, following Halliburton's admission that it had overcharged the US military. Whereas Sonol's deal relates to northern Iraq and is not a replacement of the Kuwaiti contract, a tender for the south of the country will be submitted on March 8 with the contract starting in April.
Sonol is among Israel's three largest oil product marketing firms and boasts a network of over 200 service stations. Israeli companies have been seeking to make inroads into Iraq's potentially lucrative market in recent months. But despite isolated cases where Israel's retail sector has been successful, Israel is more likely to covertly promote its hi-tech products. Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority awarded a contract worth $4-5 million to Iridium Israel for mobile satellite communication services.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to virtue.
Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
Comments
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to virtue.
Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
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