Big Oil, Big Lies


 * "If you want to rule the world you need to control the oil. All the oil. Anywhere." --Michel Collon, Monopoly (EPO, Bruxelles, 2000).


 * "Oilmen are like cats; you can never tell from the sound of them whether they are fighting or making love." --Calouste Gulbenkian.

Axis of Oil
"Sitting at the apex of world power, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney form an axis of oil with the industry. President Bush comes from a family with long and deep connections to petroleum companies. Prior to becoming vice president, Cheney headed Halliburton Co., which describes itself as 'one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries.'

"Time and again, be it in Alaska or Indonesia, Bush and Cheney have demonstrated their proclivity to prioritize oil interests over human rights and the environment. Indeed, Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force, after consulting with many CEOs in the energy industry, defined national security as access to oil." 

"It seems likely then that Big Oil, through the Cheney task force, was involved in discussions with the administration about getting control of oil in Iraq," ZNet's Linda McQuaig wrote September 27, 2004.

Halliburton
While Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton, the company "signed contracts with Iraq worth $73 million through two subsidiaries." During the 2000 presidential campaign, "Cheney said Halliburton did business with Libya and Iran through foreign subsidiaries, but maintained he had imposed a 'firm policy' against trading with Iraq," the Washington Post reported in June 2001.

"Oil industry executives and confidential U.N. records showed, however, that Halliburton held stakes in two companies that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer, the Post reported."

Caspian Sea Oil and Pipelineistan
By 2000, "[s]ix US oil giants -- Unocal, Total, Chevron, Pennzoil, Amoco and Exxon -- [had] invested heavily in the massive oilfield potential in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The region's untapped oil reserves are estimated to be worth up to $2,000 billion.

"The one serious drawback companies have faced is getting the supplies to the right market, the energy-hungry Asian Pacific economies. Afghanistan -- the only Central Asian country with very little oil -- is by far the best route to transport the oil to Asia.

"Enron, the biggest contributor to the Bush-Cheney campaign of 2000, conducted the feasibility study for a US$2.5 billion trans-Caspian gas pipeline which is being built under a joint venture agreement signed in February 1999 between Turkmenistan, Bechtel and General Electric Capital Services." 

War on Terror? or War for Oil?
"Whereas Russian, French, and Chinese firms have positioned themselves to benefit from Iraqi oil once sanctions are ended, it is U.S. companies, left in the cold so far, that stand to gain the most from regime change in Baghdad," Michael Renner wrote in The Globalist December 18, 2002. "Rehabilitating those facilities would be a lucrative job for the oil service industry, including Vice President Cheney’s former company, Halliburton."

SourceWatch Resources

 * Bush administration and the Enron connection
 * Cheney Energy Task Force
 * Hurricane Katrina: Gas and Oil Shortage
 * Hurricane Katrina Price Gouging Probe
 * Oil and War in Iraq
 * Oil depletion
 * oil industry
 * peak oil
 * peak oil: we have oil
 * The Cheney-Rumsfeld Cabal Deception

Maps & Charts

 * "Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Feature Map of Iraqi Oilfields. Commerce & State Department Reports to Task Force Detail Oilfield & Gas Projects, Contracts & Exploration. Saudi Arabian & UAE Oil Facilities Profiled As Well," Judicial Watch, July 17, 2003.
 * Oil Production Graphs of 42 Countries, dieoff.org.
 * Maps of the Oil Corridor: Iraq/Iran, RumorMillNews.
 * "George W. Bush - Terrorist in the White House. Oil & Empires," nogw.com; maps, charts, and links to current news.

Reports

 * "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century," Report of an Independent Task Force Sponsored by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University and the Council on Foreign Relations, 2001.

Timelines

 * "Timeline of Competition between Unocal and Bridas for the Afghanistan Pipeline," World Press Review, December 2001.
 * "A Timeline of Oil and Violence: Afghanistan," Ring Nebula, October 2, 2005 (last updated).
 * "A timeline of Oil and Violence II: Iraq," Ring Nebula, October 2, 2005 (last updated).

Undated Material

 * "The Oil Connection: Afghanistan and Caspian Sea oil pipeline routes," New Humanist, undated (post September 2001).

1997

 * "Unocol, Bridas wooing Taliban for $4.5bn Pak gas pipeline," Express India, June 2, 1997. re Unocal (US) and Bridas S.A. (which merged with BP Amoco Argentina).
 * "Bridas and Unocal still fighting over Turkmenistan-Pakistan pipeline," Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections, November 5, 1997.
 * "Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline," BBC, December 4, 1997.
 * Caroline Lees, "Oil barons court Taliban in Texas," Telegraph (UK), December 14, 1997.

1999

 * Mark Jacobson, "Big Oil Comes Back To Baku," Natural History (Find Articles), March 1999.
 * Curtis Rist, "Why We'll Never Run Out Of Oil," Discover (Find Articles), June 1999.

2000

 * Anthony York, "Bush and big oil. Did George W. Bush get it wrong when he blamed high gas prices on OPEC?" Salon, June 23, 2000.

2001

 * Cameron W. Barr, "Mideast violence: Is it war yet?" Christian Science Monitor, May 21, 2001.
 * "Greasing the Machine," New Internationalist, June 2001.
 * "Halliburton Iraq ties more than Cheney said," UPI, July 25, 2001.
 * Johnny Angel, "USA: It's the Oil, Stupid," LA Weekly (CorpWatch.org), September 26, 2001.
 * "How Oil Interests Play Out in US Bombing of Afghanistan," Drillbits & Tailings, October 31, 2001.
 * Karen Talbot, "Afghanistan is Key to Oil Profits," Centre for Research on Globalisation, November 2001.
 * Damien Caveli, "The United States of Oil. No administration has ever been more in bed with the energy industry -- but does that mean Big Oil is calling Bush's shots?" Salon (Centre for Research on Globalisation), November 19, 2001.
 * Julio Godoy, "US policy on Taliban influenced by oil," Asia Times, November 20, 2001.

2002

 * Wayne Madsen, "Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Bush Oil Team," Democrats.org (Global Research), January 2002.
 * Jennifer Coleman, "Enron memo details Cheney ties during California crisis," Associated Press (San Francisco Chronicle), January 30, 2002.
 * "Afghan Pipeline Revived: The New Agenda Behind the War Against Terrorism?" Green Party, March 4, 2002.
 * Salim Muwakkil, "Pipeline Politics Taint U.S. War," Suite101.com, March 18, 2002.
 * Scott Peterson, "Terror war and oil expand US sphere of influence. GIs build bases on Russia's energy-rich flank," Christian Science Monitor, March 19, 2002.
 * Natasha Hunter, "Slick Oil: What the industry really wants. And it isn't ANWR," The American Prospect, April 2, 2002. re Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
 * Martin Yant, "Enron played key role in events presaging war," The Free Press, April 10, 2002.
 * Larry Chin, "Big Oil, the United States and corruption in Kazahkstan" (Part 1) and "Big Oil, the United States and corruption in Kazahkstan" (Part 2), Online Journal, May 12 and 16, 2002.
 * "Afghanistan plans gas pipeline," BBC, May 13, 2002.
 * Fran Shor, "Follow the Money. Bush, 9/11 and Deep Threat," CounterPunch, May 21, 2002.
 * Miriam Pemberton, "War in Iraq: The Oil Factor," Foreign Policy in Focus, September 2002.
 * "Karzai elected Afghan leader," BBC, June 13, 2002. re Hamid Karzai
 * Andrew Gumbel, "Fortunes of War Await Bush's Circle After Attacks on Iraq," Independent (UK) (Common Dreams), September 15, 2002.
 * Jack Barnes, "1990-91 in Gulf: a U.S.-led war for Big Oil," The Militant, October 7, 2002.
 * Mark Doyle, "US eyes African oil," BBC, October 9, 2002.
 * Jeremy Rifkin, "Is Big Oil Lubricating War Drive?" Los Angeles Times, (Common Dreams), October 25, 2002.
 * Michael Moran and Alex Johnson, "Oil after Saddam: All bets are in. A great but quiet rush is on for a stake in Iraq’s huge reserves," MSNBC, November 7, 2002.
 * Maria Elena Martinez and Joshua Karliner, "Axis of Oil and Iraq," San Francisco Chronicle (Common Dreams), November 13, 2002.
 * Michael Renner, "Iraq and the Oil Connection," The Globalist, December 18, 2002.
 * Ian McWilliam, "Central Asia pipeline deal signed," BBC, December 27, 2002.
 * "Agreement On US 3.2 Billion Gas Pipeline Project Signed," PakNews.com (TruthOut), December 28, 2002.

2003

 * Nick Paton Walsh, Julian Borger, Terry Macalister and Ewen MacAskill, "US begins secret talks to secure Iraq's oilfields. Fears that wells will be torched if regime falls," Guardian (UK), January 23, 2003.
 * Fred Goldstein, "Washington & Big Oil vs. the World," WSWS, February 6, 2003.
 * Michael Renner, "The New Oil Order. Washington's War on Iraq is the Lynchpin to Controling Persian Gulf Oil," Foreign Policy in Focus (CorpWatch.org), February 14, 2003.
 * Anthony Mason, "The Politics Of Iraqi Oil," CBS News, February 20, 2003.
 * Daphne Eviatar, "What Oil Wants. In Iraq, it hopes to own the black gold, and to write the rules of the game, too," Newsweek, March 24, 2003.
 * "Spoils of War," San Francisco Chronicle, March 29, 2003.
 * Robert Dreyfuss, "The Thirty-Year Itch," Mother Jones, March/April 2003: "Three decades ago, in the throes of the energy crisis, Washington's hawks conceived of a strategy for US control of the Persian Gulf's oil. Now, with the same strategists firmly in control of the White House, the Bush administration is playing out their script for global dominance."
 * Oliver Morgan and Ed Vulliamy, "Cronies set to make a killing," Observer (UK), April 6, 2003: "... on the chequered past of US firms in the frame."
 * David Teather, "American to oversee Iraqi oil industry," Guardian (UK), April 26, 2003.
 * Jonathan Leff and Timothy Gardner, "BP, Chevron, Taurus win Iraq oil tender" (Update 4), Forbes, July 8, 2003.
 * Steve Kretzmann and Jim Vallette, "Bush Gives Legal Immunity to Transnational Oil Corporations in Iraq," Reclaim Democracy (Tom Paine), July 28, 2003.
 * "Two U.S. Firms Hit Iraq Jackpot," CBS News, August 23, 2003. re Halliburton and Bechtel.
 * James A. Paul, "Oil Companies in Iraq: A Century of Rivalry and War," Global Policy Forum, November 2003.

2004

 * Jim Lobe, "Washington Trades Human Rights for Oil in Azerbaijan," One World US, January 23, 2004.
 * Thomas Oliphant, "Blatant Bush tilt toward big oil," Boston Globe, April 6, 2004.
 * Paul Roberts, "The Undeclared Oil War," Washington Post, June 28, 2004.
 * Syed Rashid Husain, "The race to secure energy supplies is very much on," Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections, July 15, 2004 (August 4, 2004, edition).
 * Lynn J. Cook, "Big Oil hashes out issues with state-run firms," Houston Chronicle, September 16, 2004.
 * Linda McQuaig, "Crude Dudes. US Oil Companies Just Happened to Have Billions of Dollars They Wanted to Invest in Undeveloped Oil Reserves," Toronto Star (TruthOut), September 20, 2004; also posted on Global Security website.
 * Linda McQuaig, "Iraq's Oil," ZNet, September 27, 2004.

2005

 * Jad Mouawad, "Libya Tempts Executives With Big Oil Reserves," New York Times, January 2, 2005. re Libyan oil industry
 * Jeffrey Ball, "Big oil, SEC differ on calculation of petroleum reserves," Wall Street Journal (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), February 25, 2005.
 * Julian Jackson, "How to deceive friends and influence people: Oil crisis lies," Axis of Logic (Energy Bulletin), March 14, 2005.
 * Greg Palast, "Secret U.S. Plans for Iraq's Oil," BBC News World Edition (gregpalast.com), March 17, 2005.
 * Bill Weinberg, "Big Oil turns up heat in border region," Final Call, May 10, 2005: "South America’s Orinoco Basin, which holds the greatest proven reserves outside the Persian Gulf. The region is split by the border between Colombia, Washington’s closest South American ally, and Venezuela, ruled by a left-populist government sharply at odds with the White House." re Hugo Chavez
 * Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, "Axis of Oil," Wall Street Journal (HowardWFrench.com), May 23, 2005.
 * "Big Oil creates another stain. Putting Cooney in this key role ensures no progress on global warming," The Daily Astonian, June 9, 2005. re Philip A. Cooney, chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
 * "Democrats Say White House again Cozy with Big Oil," Reuters (CorpWatch.org), June 17, 2005.
 * Steve Verdon, "Record Oil Prices?" Outside the Beltway, August 11, 2005.
 * William Hughes, "RFK, Jr. Blasts Big Oil & Bush-Cheney Gang," San Francisco Indymedia, September 20, 2005.
 * Anne Thompson, "Oil profits fuel consumer outrage. Exxon Mobil earned nearly $10 billion in third quarter," NBC News (MSNBC), October 28, 2005.
 * Christopher Helman, "Hands Off The Windfall," Forbes, October 28, 2005.
 * Tom Doggett, "FTC Subpoenas Big Oil firms in U.S. Gasoline Probe," Reuters (MSNBC), November 9, 2005.
 * "In heated hearings, oil bosses defend big profits. Lawmakers grill execs, ask them to assure people they’re not being gouged," Associated Press (MSNBC), November 9, 2005.
 * "Oil company executives defend profits in appearance before Congress," Associated Press (WMPI-TV Mobile, AL/MSNBC), November 9, 2005.
 * U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Hold a Joint Hearing on Energy Pricing and Profits, Transcript of Proceedings, November 9, 2005. Part 3 of 3 (Washington Post).
 * Dana Milbank and Justin Blum, "Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force," Washington Post, November 16, 2005.
 * Icarus Rising, "Big Oil's Big Lies," ATSNN.com, November 16, 2005.
 * "Big Oil Lies," Crooks and Liars, November 17, 2005.
 * "Big oil has crude designs on Iraq wealth," Reuters, November 22, 2005. See report "Crude Designs - The rip-off of Iraq's Oil Wealth" at Carbon Web, November 2005.
 * Philip Thornton, "Iraq's oil: The spoils of war," Independent (UK), November 22, 2005: "Iraqis face the dire prospect of losing up to $200bn (£116bn) of the wealth of their country if an American-inspired plan to hand over development of its oil reserves to US and British multinationals comes into force next year."
 * Justin Blum, "Big Oil 'Participation' at Issue. Definitions Cited in Dispute Over Roles in Energy Task Force," Washington Post, November 23, 2005.
 * "Democrat demands criminal probe of oil execs," Reuters, December 1, 2005.
 * Heather Wokusch, "Mission Accomplished: Big Oil's Occupation of Iraq," Common Dreams, December 2, 2005.