U.S. put former president and CEO of Shell Oil in control of Iraqi oil

BAGHDAD , May 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. occupation announced Saturday, May 3, a new top management team to run the Iraqi oil ministry under the former president of Shell Oil.

"We are pleased to announce the formation of an advisory board for the oil sector with Philip Carroll and Fadhel Othman in the position of chairman and vice-chairman. Mr. Carroll is a former president and CEO of Shell Oil and former CEO of engineering and construction company Fluor," said Tim Cross, a deputy to retired U.S. general Jay Garner, head of the office of construction and humanitarian assistance in post-war Iraq.

"Mr. Othman served formerly as the chairman of Iraq 's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) and in positions in the Iraqi oil ministry," he added in a statement.

The statement also added that after "extensive consultations and on the advice of the executive committee of the oil advisory board, we are pleased to announce that Thamir Ghadhban had agreed to accept the position of chief executive officer of the interim management team for the Iraqi oil sector."

Ghadhban served as the Iraqi oil ministry's director of planning before the war, it added.

The Middle East Economic Survey reports in its Monday edition, April 28, that the advisory board would oversee policy planning for Iraq 's oil industry, while the management team would run day-to-day operations.

The oil advisor to the U.S. administration in Iraq , Gary Vogler, gave on Tuesday, April 29, the ministry an official letter asking staffers to stay at their posts "until told otherwise," which many took as a sign of a pending reshuffle.

The letter told the ministry "not to substitute any official or employee without specific approval of the coalition" and not "to accept directives from anyone other than the coalition."

On April 27, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said that U.S. troops "are waiting for somebody with clear authority, someone who is authorized to spend and repair the damage done."

On April 12, some oil experts said the U.S. would dominate the world oil market altogether and be able to set the price for oil product.

“The U.S. will surely control the oil fields in Iraq despite claims that it will not do so. It did not go to war and spent U.S. 80 billion dollars in that war and not gain anything out of it,” Ramli Walid, an economist attached to an Islamic financial institution in Malaysia, told IslamOnline.net.

He added that the OPEC will be victimized if the U.S. decides to increase the Iraqi oil production to its full capacity, resulting in serious drop in oil prices.