Like a phoenix rising from the dust of history, once again the original partners of what was once known as the Iraq Petroleum Company are on the verge of gaining access to the wealth of Iraq's oil fields. Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP, as well as Chevron, are about to sign two-year, no-bid contracts to provide technical guidance and refurbish equipment for the government of Iraq, designed to take oil production from 2.5 million barrels of oil to 3 million barrels a day. The contracts are seen as giving the oil giants an inside track toward more lucrative long-term deals. After all, it would be difficult if not impossible, for Iraq two years hence to throw out the companies who have made the oil flow.

It is one of those small steps, likely to fly under most people's news radar, that is designed to assure the companies huge profits in the future.

Before commenting, I urge all readers to read the history of the original Iraq Petroleum Company at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Petroleum_Company. The article begins "The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), until 1929 called Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), was an oil company jointly owned by some of the world's largest oil companies, which had virtual monopoly on all oil exploration in Iraq from 1925 to 1961." Like today's venture the original IPC began with a modest grant by the Ottomon Empire to explore for oil and grew into an enormously profitable venture.

As far back as 1927, the oil companies were accussed of deliberately withholding Iraqi oil from the market in order to artificially drive up the price of oil.

Good thing that kind of thing can't happen today. I mean history can't repeat, can it?