BP AGM Protest: BP in Iraq = 'Blatant Piracy'
Hands Off Iraqi Oil | 28.03.2008 14:14 | Globalisation | Iraq | Workers' Movements
BP is using war and occupation and fuelling sectarian conflict by trying to control Iraqi oil for the next 30 years. We need to stop them.
Whilst not the only oil company angling for long-term contracts in Iraq, Shell is too and we will target their AGM too, BP is wholly British and enmeshed with the British occupation effort and establishement.
Thats the Bad News - the Good News is that they havent got their hands on Iraqi oil yet and there is space to stop them....
Whilst not the only oil company angling for long-term contracts in Iraq, Shell is too and we will target their AGM too, BP is wholly British and enmeshed with the British occupation effort and establishement.
Thats the Bad News - the Good News is that they havent got their hands on Iraqi oil yet and there is space to stop them....
UK Hands Off Iraqi Oil Protest at BP AGM
www.handsoffiraqioil.org
BP in Iraq - 'Blatant Piracy'
Take action at British Petroleum's annual general meeting on Thursday April 17th at London's Excel Centre...
Please come dressed 'piratical' it you can, to reflect BP's 'plunderous' agenda towards Iraq..
Excel Centre
One Western Gateway
Royal Victoria Dock
LondonE16 1XL
9am on Thursday April 17th
Who? British Petroleum, one of the oldest and largest oil companies in the world, featured in the Ftse top 5 and looking to access longterm control over Iraqi oil reserves.
Hands Off Iraqi Oil - an international coalition of anti-war, human rights, environment and development groups, and you!
What? BP is currently angling for 'Production Sharing Agreements' in Iraq.
These are 30 year contracts that would grant the company a controlling stake in some of the world’s largest oilfields. BP is currently negotiating a Technical Service contract for Rumaila, Iraq’s largest producing oilfield, and expects to sign by the summer – the company is aiming to use this as a stepping stone to a long-term contract; and is pressing in the negotiations for a right to extend the contract once a legal regime is in place – in the form of an Oil Law, which the USA has been heavily pressurising the Iraqi government to pass.
War Zone, Comfort Zone
Despite Iraq being a war zone, it is a comfort zone for BP. The last reserves-controlling contract BP had in Iraq was in 1925 and was schedueled to last 75 years. The contract was signed when Iraq was occupied by Britain, and ruled by the British-installed King Faisal. Ordinary Iraqis had no say in the economic and political decisions being made above their heads. The historical parallells to the present are stark.
The company's core business is the exploration, booking, processing, and selling of hydrocarbons. Last year BP announced a 50% investment in the Sunrise Oil sands field in Canada - a move which showed that far from the company being ready to move 'Beyond Petroleum' it maintains a commitment to oil, despite the controversial environmental and physical challenges of getting it out of the ground.
Iraq has the third largest proven reserves on the planet and a reserves to production ratio of 173 years - almost triple that of Saudi Arabia.
With extraction costs at approx $1.50 per barrel, Iraq is where BP's hopes its future profits and reserves prize truely lies.
Economic Occupation
A longterm move on Iraq represents the theft of Iraq’s future, depriving the Iraqi people of any choice of how their heavily oil dependent economy will be developed, or diversified for a generation. Iraqis would also lose billions in lost revenues.
The people of Iraq are overwhelmingly opposed both to the military occupation of their country, and privatisation of their resources, which BP's agenda in Iraq represents.
Oil for blood
BP routinely uses mercenary armies in conflict zones, such as Colombia, often with severe consequences for human rights. Commonly, such forces do not stop at physically protecting oil facilities, but proactively attack anyone seen as challenging the company’s interests – whether local community leaders or trade unionists. The prospect of applying such an approach to Iraq represents a frightening addition to the violence in the country.
Breaking Up Iraq
The actions of the occupying powers in Iraq since 2003 have fostered sectarian parties, militias and agendas of breaking up Iraq into sectarian fiefdoms.
The Oil Law will compound this sectarianism by putting sectarian politicians at the heart of decision-making, and giving breakaway regions the right to sign oil contracts independent of the national interest.
Iraqis resisting oil privatisation and the fragmentation of their country will find themselves facing 1) US/UK occupation forces 2) sectarian Iraqi forces and 3) private mercenary armies (Mostly British and US companies).
If BP succeeds in gaining long-term control of Iraqi reserves and production, the company will have central responsibility for both inflaming and consolidating sectarian conflict, and for the human rights violations which will occur as a result of the use of force to push through such an unpopular and unjust agenda.
Whose 'energy security'?
Should BP profit from war and occupation? Should BP re-charge its' own 'energy security' of reserves at the expense of the relentless insecurity of the Iraqi people?
If you think not, let us know and come and join us!.....
NO BLOOD FOR OIL, END THE OCCUPATION NOW
For more details see: www.handsoffiraqioil.org
www.handsoffiraqioil.org
BP in Iraq - 'Blatant Piracy'
Take action at British Petroleum's annual general meeting on Thursday April 17th at London's Excel Centre...
Please come dressed 'piratical' it you can, to reflect BP's 'plunderous' agenda towards Iraq..
Excel Centre
One Western Gateway
Royal Victoria Dock
LondonE16 1XL
9am on Thursday April 17th
Who? British Petroleum, one of the oldest and largest oil companies in the world, featured in the Ftse top 5 and looking to access longterm control over Iraqi oil reserves.
Hands Off Iraqi Oil - an international coalition of anti-war, human rights, environment and development groups, and you!
What? BP is currently angling for 'Production Sharing Agreements' in Iraq.
These are 30 year contracts that would grant the company a controlling stake in some of the world’s largest oilfields. BP is currently negotiating a Technical Service contract for Rumaila, Iraq’s largest producing oilfield, and expects to sign by the summer – the company is aiming to use this as a stepping stone to a long-term contract; and is pressing in the negotiations for a right to extend the contract once a legal regime is in place – in the form of an Oil Law, which the USA has been heavily pressurising the Iraqi government to pass.
War Zone, Comfort Zone
Despite Iraq being a war zone, it is a comfort zone for BP. The last reserves-controlling contract BP had in Iraq was in 1925 and was schedueled to last 75 years. The contract was signed when Iraq was occupied by Britain, and ruled by the British-installed King Faisal. Ordinary Iraqis had no say in the economic and political decisions being made above their heads. The historical parallells to the present are stark.
The company's core business is the exploration, booking, processing, and selling of hydrocarbons. Last year BP announced a 50% investment in the Sunrise Oil sands field in Canada - a move which showed that far from the company being ready to move 'Beyond Petroleum' it maintains a commitment to oil, despite the controversial environmental and physical challenges of getting it out of the ground.
Iraq has the third largest proven reserves on the planet and a reserves to production ratio of 173 years - almost triple that of Saudi Arabia.
With extraction costs at approx $1.50 per barrel, Iraq is where BP's hopes its future profits and reserves prize truely lies.
Economic Occupation
A longterm move on Iraq represents the theft of Iraq’s future, depriving the Iraqi people of any choice of how their heavily oil dependent economy will be developed, or diversified for a generation. Iraqis would also lose billions in lost revenues.
The people of Iraq are overwhelmingly opposed both to the military occupation of their country, and privatisation of their resources, which BP's agenda in Iraq represents.
Oil for blood
BP routinely uses mercenary armies in conflict zones, such as Colombia, often with severe consequences for human rights. Commonly, such forces do not stop at physically protecting oil facilities, but proactively attack anyone seen as challenging the company’s interests – whether local community leaders or trade unionists. The prospect of applying such an approach to Iraq represents a frightening addition to the violence in the country.
Breaking Up Iraq
The actions of the occupying powers in Iraq since 2003 have fostered sectarian parties, militias and agendas of breaking up Iraq into sectarian fiefdoms.
The Oil Law will compound this sectarianism by putting sectarian politicians at the heart of decision-making, and giving breakaway regions the right to sign oil contracts independent of the national interest.
Iraqis resisting oil privatisation and the fragmentation of their country will find themselves facing 1) US/UK occupation forces 2) sectarian Iraqi forces and 3) private mercenary armies (Mostly British and US companies).
If BP succeeds in gaining long-term control of Iraqi reserves and production, the company will have central responsibility for both inflaming and consolidating sectarian conflict, and for the human rights violations which will occur as a result of the use of force to push through such an unpopular and unjust agenda.
Whose 'energy security'?
Should BP profit from war and occupation? Should BP re-charge its' own 'energy security' of reserves at the expense of the relentless insecurity of the Iraqi people?
If you think not, let us know and come and join us!.....
NO BLOOD FOR OIL, END THE OCCUPATION NOW
For more details see: www.handsoffiraqioil.org
Hands Off Iraqi Oil
e-mail:
handsoffiraqioil@gmail.com
Homepage:
http://www.handsoffiraqioil.org