Politics

Chairman Waxman on Administration Knowledge of Hunt Oil?s Kurdish Contract

By Jesse Lee

Congress pressing Bush to block, reverse Iraq oil deals
Ben Lando, UPI - June 25, 2008

U.S. congressional leaders are pressing the Bush administration to block deals to be signed between the Iraqi federal government and the world’s largest oil companies and to cancel deals between the Iraqi Kurdish region and smaller U.S. oil firms.

Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., want the United States to dam negotiations on contracts the senators claim will, in part, further sectarian fighting.

United Press International has also obtained a letter from Senate Committee on Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., to President Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley, asking the administration to press Hunt Oil and other U.S. companies to cancel their oil deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq…

Levin also questioned whether the State Department warned Hunt Oil against signing the deal, saying he received differing versions of communication from the company and the State Department.

“The clear inconsistency between the State Department and Hunt Oil in their accounting of the meetings leading up to the company’s signing of a (production sharing contract) with the KRG is deeply troubling,” Levin wrote.

From the Oversight Committee:

New Information about Administration Knowledge of Hunt Oil?s Kurdish Contract
Documents provided to the Oversight Committee show that Administration officials knew about Hunt Oil?s interest in the Kurdish region months in advance, contradicting claims that Administration officials were caught off-guard and opposed Hunt Oil?s actions. In a letter sent to Secretary Rice, Chairman Waxman requested information about the U.S. role in the efforts of other oil companies to obtain Iraqi contracts.

An excerpt of the letter:

The documents that the Committee has received tell a different story about the role of Administration officials. Ray Hunt, the head of Hunt Oil, personally informed advisors to President Bush of meetings he and other Hunt Oil officials planned with representatives of the Kurdish government. Other Hunt Oil officials kept State Department officials informed about the company?s intentions. An e-mail from Hunt Oil?s general manager states: ?There was no communication to me or in my presence made by any of the 9 state department officials with whom I met ? that Hunt should not pursue our course of action leading to a contract. In fact, there was ample opportunity to do so, but it did not happen.? A Commerce Department official who met with Hunt Oil officials in Kurdistan offered them further support and wished them ?a fruitful visit to Kurdistan.? Five days after the announcement of the Hunt Oil contract, a State Department official contacted Hunt Oil to describe another ?good opportunity for Hunt? in Iraq, prompting a Hunt Oil official to write Ray Hunt: ?This is really good for us. ? I find it a huge compliment that he is ?tipping? us off about this. ? This is a lucky break.?

Full text of the letter (pdf): (more…)

Full post as published by The Gavel on July 02, 2008 (boomark / email).