Oil Security
By Dev George
Managing Editor
Oil and Gas International
10/21/2002
Last week, there was quite a lot of talk about oil security - not just the usual posturing by American politicians, but expressions of varying viewpoints that have been provoked by the present tense situation in the Middle East vis-à-vis Bush and Iraq and Sharon & Palestine - the former obsessing about decapitating Iraq, other reasons notwithstanding, to assure oil supply from the second largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia, and the latter attempting to depopulate lands claimed as Israeli to let Zionist settlers in and, he thinks, achieve a sort of fortress security.
Both have alienated world opinion, caused friends to question their alliances, and precipitated a new era of global terrorism on a tragic scale. They have also both led to this latest search for oil security.
Least it be forgotten, secure access to oil supply was the driving force behind Nazi Germany's conquest of Eastern Europe and North Africa and its attempt to occupy the Soviet Union. It was, as well, Imperial Japan's reason for invading the East Indies (Southeast Asia). In fact, Bush Senior, it could be argued, prosecuted the Gulf War a decade ago not to rescue Kuwait, but to be sure Iraq didn't take over the oilfields of Saudi Arabia.
Actually, the quest for secure sources of oil has a long and chequered history harking back to the time when the colonial powers carved up the world.
Oil security is essential for the foreseeable future simply because there is no practical alternative as a source of energy and industrial input. But, other than the scattering of incidences of attacks on oilfields and infrastructure (Sudan, Colombia, Nigeria) by disgruntled guerillas or angry citizens, the real threat to secure oil for the United States and others that support its Middle East policies is the dual dilemma of Iraq and Israel. In the words of UK Minister for Europe Peter Hain at a conference on energy security, "The first priority must be to take action to ensure security in the oil-rich Middle East by creating the conditions for a Palestinian state and a secure Israel."
At almost the same time, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in Pakistan, was once again calling for the Muslim oil-producing countries of the world to use oil as a weapon to influence world opinion. He supports George Bush's so-called war on terrorism, but is strongly opposed to his plan to attack Iraq and his acquiescence in Ariel Sharon's wanton disregard for international law and his determination to eliminate the Palestinians as an obstacle to Israeli expansion.
Mahathir is not alone. Some 115 other world governments, including most US allies and even Kuwait, whom Iraq invaded in 1990, have expressed their opposition to Bush's planned invasion of Iraq and called for allowing UN inspectors to try once more to find and eliminate any threatening Iraqi arsenals. Likewise almost to the exact number, there is opposition to Sharon's excessive belligerence.
Should the military might, economic power, and political strength of the United States be put to bear to force a just end to the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation and demand Israel return occupied lands and respect an established Palestinian state, the threat to Israel would cease and oil security would be assured.
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