ExxonMobil has filed an application with the Afghan government to bid on a group of Afghanistan oilfields containing an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil and gas.
The official “expression of interest, said Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Exxon, “is part of our ongoing evaluation of oil and gas resources around the world.” Bids are due in late October and winning bidders will be announced in late 2012.
Exxon’s decision is unexpected, since many corporations have been reluctant to officially bid on Afghanistan’s natural resources because it has been perceived as highly speculative. Issues of security and lack of infrastructure compound corporate skepticism.
One possible explanation is that there are potential geo-political matters at play. China’s state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and India’s ONGC have also filed to bid for the oilfields. Given Washington’s belligerence toward a rising China of late, Afghanistan could very well become a point of geo-political competition between world powers.
Afghanistan already signed a deal late last year with CNPC for the development of oilfields in the north, a project expected to earn billions of dollars over two decades.
This isn’t the first sign of foreign power exploitation of Afghanistan’s natural resources. In November of last year, “the Pentagon’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO), in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, announced” it would begin training Afghan geoscientists to collect, process, and exploit valuable “mineral resources” and “rare earth elements” in Afghanistan.
Earlier Pentagon estimates “identified at least $1 trillion in mineral resources, fossil fuels, and rare earth elements within Afghanistan.”
Hasn't Afghanistan been a point of geo-political competition between world powers since at least the days of Alexander the Sensible? This wikipedia article cites criticism from US and Canadian companies following the China Metallurgical Group's successful bid to operate a copper mine in Samangan province. They accuse China of corrupt practices, and of not having the Afghan peoples best interests at heart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Afghanista…
*ding*
Do I smell the real reason for US forces remaining at least until 2014? If Exxon gets the contracts and builds facilities, of course we'll need to have troops stationed in Afghanistan indefinitely… you know, to protect American interests and stuff.
And….. when that happens Exxon will have painted a huge target on every one of its facilities, targets that will be difficult for the likes of the Taliban to resist. The US brand in Afghanistan is nothing more than damaged goods at this point.
“ExxonMobil Announces Bid for Afghan Oilfields”
So, that’s what Afghanistan war is all about, oil, oil, and oil. All along I used to think it was about human rights and democracy. The US propaganda is damn good. It even fooled me even though I’m a graduate from elementary school.
You are probable not a lot dumber than the rest of us , As we have been fooled almost constantly lately . Maybe it has always been this way . It seems we have to be fooled to go to war . No other way would we send are kids to fight for Justice for Exon . So what if the Chinese communits pump the oil and sell it to us .