Lots of blood... where's my oil?

If invading Iraq was only about stealing all the natural resouces... why isn't big oil getting rich?

In Iraq, oil companies face a dilemma. They can wait for the central government in Baghdad to agree a new oil law that will give them a legal framework in which they can operate, and for the security situation to become manageable.

Or they can press ahead and sign agreements with the Kurdistan Regional Government, the authority in the autonomous north of Iraq, at the risk of souring relations with Baghdad and shutting themselves out of deals in the rest of the country.

It is a decision that has so far divided the smaller operators from the majors.

The only part of the country that has any degree of stability... where people aren't turning their neighbours into catfood, that is... is the Kurdish north.

Only 3 per cent of Iraq’s vast reserves of oil and gas are in Kurdistan, and while the minnows of the oil world might be able to make a good business out of 3 per cent of Iraq’s reserves, the big fish want access to the remaining 97 per cent.

If the political situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, there may come a time when the majors decide it is better to have 3 per cent of a large amount than 97 per cent of nothing.

You've gotta wonder... if the money and the oil start flowing in the Kurdish controlled part of the country... will any of the other dough-heads wise up?

Nah... probably not.