Hunt Oil's deal with Kurds blessed by U.S officials

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-03 19:00:10

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhuanet) --

Hunt Oil Co. efforts to obtain an exploration deal with Iraq's Kurdish regional government were blessed by U.S. officials, contrary to public statements discouraging it, according to documents cited by a congressional committee.

The agreement, which was announced in September, was criticized as undermining efforts to strengthen and Iraq central government that still had no national oil revenue-sharing law.

Bush administration officials expressed public concern and denied any knowledge of the contract.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman released e-mails and letters obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that appeared to show the opposite.

"Contrary to the denials of administration officials, advisors to the president and officials in the State and Commerce Departments knew about Hunt Oil's interest in the Kurdish region months before the contract was executed," Waxman, a California Democrat, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In one e-mail, Hunt Oil’s general manager wrote: "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."

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Wednesday that "we continue to stand by our previous statements that the U.S. government made its objections to this arrangement known both to the company as well as to the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government)," The Washington Post reported.

Kurdish officials have clashed with Baghdad over the national oil law, which will determine how contracts are awarded and how revenues are distributed. The northern Iraqi region has signed several exploration deals with foreign firms, which Baghdad says are illegal.

(Agencies)

Editor: Gareth Dodd

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