It's not about the oil. It's not about the oil. It's not about the oil ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/24/royaldutchshell.iraq

<quotes>

Shell has become the first western oil company to win significant access to
the energy sector in Iraq since the 1970s, in a $4bn move which could bring
liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Britain.

The deal has angered anti-war campaigners and senior Iraqi figures who
complained yesterday that there was no competitive tendering for the
contract.

The first big contract signed by a western oil company since the invasion of
Iraq was condemned by Platform, a British-based organisation which monitors
oil companies and Iraq in particular.

"The big issue here is that the whole thing has been done in secret. We are
not being told what the terms of the deal are - such as are there extension
rights and why has there been no competitive bidding process," said Greg
Muttitt of Platform.

"What has definitely happened here is that a country under occupation has
introduced an oil policy that is favourable to western oil companies. The
[US] state department has already admitted that it has advisers working on
oil policy and there is a likelihood they may have drafted the Shell
contract."

His views were reinforced by Issam al-Chalabi, Iraq's oil minister between
1987 and 1990, who questioned the lack of competitive tendering for the gas
gathering contract and claimed it had gone to Shell as the spoils of war.

Shell, BP and other oil majors are lining up for other big deals in Iraq
with the oil ministry holding a meeting in London on October 13.

</quotes>