You won't believe what I found on Iraq / Syri

[SoCalDemocrat]

Remember how the Bush administration made a big deal out of how they found a secret oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria and made a production out of shutting it down?

Syria was actually helping the U.S. in the war on terror, according to the Bush administration, and in return were being allowed to pump oil out of Iraq illegally.

http://www.underreported.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=965


Bush Helps Iraq Through Syria
MSNBC.com
September 5,2002

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 — The United States is quietly allowing Syria, which it has declared a state sponsor of terrorism, to illegally import 200,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil a day in exchange for information about al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations, U.S. and Syrian officials have told NBC News.

SOURCES SAID THAT earlier this year, U.S. troops were saved from an al-Qaida attack in the Persian Gulf based on information from Syria.

“We supply the United States with any information we have on al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that we consider terrorist,” said Georges Jabbour, a political analyst at Aleppo University in Syria and a past adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“And this does not mean we agree with the United States on what she considers to be terrorism and terrorists,” said Jabbour, who often speaks unofficially for Syria.

U.S. officials characterized the Syrian information as “golden.” “The Syrians have provided significant operational intelligence,” a senior State Department official told NBC News on condition of anonymity. “I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.”

In exchange, Washington has chosen to look the other way as Syria illegally imports 200,000 barrels of of cut-rate Iraqi oil every day in defiance of a United Nations-imposed embargo.

U.S. officials said the oil flows through an old, long-unused pipeline from the Kirkuk oil field in the north, which the Energy Department has estimated has more than 10 billion barrels of proven reserves. Syria denies importing the oil, but U.S. officials said it was lying.

Even though Iraq charges Syria only $14 a barrel — half the market price — the arrangement has yielded a $3 billion-a-year bonanza for Iraq, which a senior U.S. official said was used as a slush fund for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

“He certainly needs money to support his elite troops and to keep them happy,” said Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics, a Washington policy institute.



Here is one of the Faux News spins on the story. I never even knew about the connection to the Bush administration where he was giving Syria billions in oil in exchange for their complicity. Interesting how Bush works with terrorist nations.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,84241,00.html

Rumsfeld: U.S. Forces Shut Down Illegal Oil Pipeline
Tuesday, April 15, 2003


WASHINGTON — U.S. military engineers have reported that they shut down a pipeline used for illegal oil shipments from Iraq to Syria, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

But Rumsfeld said he could not guarantee that the pipeline was completely shut off or that oil was not being clandestinely shipped from Iraq to Syria.

"We do not have perfect knowledge," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference. "We do know that they were instructed to shut it down and they have told us that they have."

Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said coalition forces had not destroyed any pipelines.

"They would not destroy the pipeline or any of the other infrastructure," Myers said.

The pipeline opened in 2000 and was believed to have handled about $1.2 billion worth of oil a year shipped in violation of the United Nations sanctions against Iraq.

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

1. With oil selling at WAR prices, Syria's take is $1.9B and Iraq's $1.0B!

Facts from articles:

Fox on 15 Apr 2003: Syria was pumping $1.2 billion per year

MSNBC on 5 Sep 2004: Syria is pumping 200k barrels/day

MSNBC on 5 Sep 2004: Syria is paying Iraq $14/ barrel (bbl)

Looking around on google: Oil is selling for $40/bbl today


$40 /bbl - $14 /bbl = $26 /bbl potential revenue for Syria

$26 syrian revenue /bbl * 200k bbl /day * 365 day /year = $1.898(billion) syrian revenue /year

$14 iraqi revenue * 200k bbl /day * 365 day /year = $1.022 (billion) iraqi revenue /year

So Syria is now making $698 million /year more than we previously estimated they were illegally making.

Their previous illegal arrangement was less profitable than thier current, previously secret, arrangement. Also, their current arrangement is in disagreement with a United Nations agreement. The United States has historically been a member in the United Nations.

[SoCalDemocrat]

2. calculate what U.S. Oil makes daily

I calculated how much more U.S. companies are profiting at the pump based on how much they raised their prices over pre-war levels, taking into consideration the increase in actual costs. It was on the order of tens of millions of dollars a day.

20 million barrels of oil a day, or 26% of the world's total, are consumed in the U.S.
42 gallons of gas per barrel of crude.

Then we have CA


The price margins for California refiners and retailers – both before and after gas arrived at the pump – were significantly higher than in the rest of the country, according to the figures released today.

The new data show that in January 2003, the combined pre-pump margins in California for refining, marketing and reformulating added 27.6 cents to the price of a gallon of regular unleaded. By March 2003, that figure had risen by 42 cents, to 69.6 cents. That's a 152 percent increase over three months. The margins include costs and profit. But since refiners' costs increased minimally, if at all, between January and March, the increase is almost solely profit. In most cases, all pre-pump profits go to refiners. Pre-pump margins in California historically have risen in the first quarter, but not as sharply as they did this year, according to market analysts.

The comparison with the rest of the country is striking. In March 2003, the combined pre-pump margins outside California totaled 30.7 cents for a gallon of regular unleaded. That's 127 percent less than the 69.6 cents in California. These figures – which exclude higher taxes paid by refiners in California – cannot be fully explained by any difference in costs between California and the rest of the country.

The new data show the retail margin at the gas pump in California rose by 68.5 percent from January 2003 to March 2003, to 9.1 cents per gallon of regular unleaded. The California retail margin was 37.9 percent higher than in the rest of the country. All profit from pump sales goes to the retailer, which in many cases is the same company as the refiner.

http://www.ucan.org/News/gasnews/AGgouge9-09-03/AGBillLockyerRelease/Attorney%20General%20Lockyer%20Releases%20Data%20Showing%20Fast-Rising%20Profit%20Margins%20for%20State's%20Gas%20Refiners.htm

[SoCalDemocrat]

3. Syrian intelligence "golden"

So when did we move from "golden" to possibly harboring Saddam's missing WMDs and why?