The Oil Company Spin Machine Shifts into High Gear

The curse of traveling (I am in Europe until Monday): CNN. During the run up to the Iraq War and during its early stages, CNN was a cheerleader for the Bush administration and too busy to ask any of the questions the media failed to ask – thousands of lives ago.

Watching CNN this week was a chance to see the oil company spin machine in high gear, and much of it aimed at Bolivia and Evo Morales' decree “nationalizing” oil and gas reserves (see Blog posting below).

There was the CEO of Shell, explaining the ridiculousness of calls for a windfall profits tax in the face of the exorbitant profits that Shell and other oil companies have been making as prices at the US pump soar over $3 per gallon. We use that money to invest, the dapper executive explained. And his views on the wave of nationalizations of oil and gas, including Bolivia's. Dell, they need us. They need our technologies and management.

So let us get this straight. Bolivia needs to turn over ownership of its gas and oil reserves to the likes of Shell in order to get access to their drills and refineries, and their high-paid executives. Too bad CN didn't have it together to ask if that was the same technological genius that Shell's subsidiary, Transredes, demonstrated in January 2000 when - after years of ignoring warnings that their pipelines were a disater waiting the happen - disaster happened. Millions of acres of indiginous farmland were destroyed along the Disaguadero River, leaving behind a trail of contaminated water, useless land, at least one dead child, and sheep born with birth defects like a cyclops eye and 25 centimeter tounge.

Shell – Technology for a Better Future.

Then CNN brought on Thomas Friedman of the New York Times to act as if he had just invented some new miracle theory that high oil prices and climbing revenues for oil producing countries also means increased corruption and conflict. People have been writing about “the resource curse” for years. I guess Friedman just decided it was worth using to advance his writing career a little more. He argued that countries like Venezuela were using oil revenues to finance “bread and circuses” for their people. Well Thomas, that and free medical and dental clinics along with subsidized food stores. What silliness on Venezuela's part, no?

Is he arguing that the people of Venezuela and Bolivia will really be better off when oil prices go down and the money declines, or if they give oil companies a bigger share? Hmmm, do you think there might be an option out there where the poor nations that produce oil and gas get to have the money and also become more democratic? But, that wouldn't make such an interesting op-ed for Friedman, would it?

Make what you will of the Bolivia decree this week but one thing is clear, the message. If it is under our ground it is ours and if foreign companies want a pice of the action they had better be prepared for real negotiations, not giveaways behind closed doors.