The Iraq Inquiry: UK interests in Iraqi oil

The main official reason given by the Allied powers for invading Iraq in 2003 was to destroy Iraq’s alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction. There was hardly any mention of the role of oil in the war. Iraq’s crude oil reserves are among the five largest globally. This fact did not escape the attention of allied politicians. The Chilcot Report made it clear that public statements on the war should focus on the Weapons of Mass Destruction, and that no mention should be made of oil interests, in order not to antagonize Iraqi public opinion and raise the suspicion that the war is about western control of Iraq’s oil. The Report revealed that scores of meetings took place between UK government officials and leading British oil firms such as BP and Shell to ensure that the firms received a sizeable share of the upstream contracts following the war. The Report also showed concerns raised by British officials of US attempts to stop Russia’s negative position towards the war in the UN Security Council by promising upstream oil contracts to Russian firms. British officials also complained that the United States kept the oil file strictly under its domain, particularly after the war ended. The Report documents beyond doubt the role of oil interests in the war, despite the fact that the subject was not raised publicly by the Allied officials.