White House to review oil sanctions
Financial Times, Friday May 18
By DAVID BUCHAN
The White House energy task force yesterday called for a review of foreign sanctions to "minimise their costs on US citizens and interests", but stopped short of calling for an easing of unilateral US bans on Iran, Libya or Iraq.
Several US oil company leaders had lobbied Vice-President Dick Cheney, who had been one of their number as head until last year of Halliburton, the world's largest oil services company, to relax unilateral sanctions. Such sanctions merely handicapped US companies compared with their foreign rivals, they argued.
But because of the sensitivity of this issue, the task force, chaired by Mr Cheney, confined itself to calling for a general review of sanctions, both unilaterally by the US as on Iran and Libya and in conjunction with the United Nations as on Iraq. Energy security, in terms of the US gaining adequate supplies, should be considered in this review, the report said.
As a holding action, pending this review, President Bush recently renewed for another year a US executive order banning US oil company investment in Iran. This order dated from 1995, when the previous Clinton administration blocked Conoco from carrying out a contract in Iran. Conoco has since been an outspoken opponent of unilateral sanctions.
Of the task force's 105 recommendations, 25 concerned foreign initiatives, designed mainly to foster co-operation with energy producing states in the western hemisphere, the Middle East and central Asia. The report called for more gas and power links with Canada and Mexico, and for negotiations on an investment treaty with Venezuela and for energy consultations with Brazil.
It said commercial conditions should be fostered to give oil companies operating in Kazakhstan the option of shipping crude through the US-backed Caspian pipeline across Azerbaijan to Turkey. Chevron has a big operation in Kazakhstan. The report also welcomed initiatives by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria and United Arab Emirates to allow foreign investors back into their energy sectors. ExxonMobil is believed to be poised to win some big gas contracts in Saudi Arabia. |
