Saturday, October 6, 2007

Pioneers on the Hunt: U.S. vs. Iraqi


Small U.S. oil companies made the news recently. Today's headlines showed the lengths Pioneer Natural Resources Co. took to drill in offshore of Alaska. Weeks ago, a Texas based company with a similar name, Prime Natural Resources was mentioned alongside Hunt Oil as companies doing oil deals in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Alaska has an oil trust that benefits the citizens of the state. To date Iraq does not.

The latest deal signed by Ray Hunt, personal friend of President Bush's, shows no such sharing with all citizens. While the Bush adminstration denied any knowledge of Hunt Oil's move, I find it odd that Ray didn't mention something to George while sharing Dover Sole with the Queen. Or maybe he casually mentioned the new oil deal during his update to the Chief Executive on the new Presidential Library at SMU. Surely the topic came up at one of the international advisory groups that regularly hears Ray's wisdom. Maybe he even gave guidance during the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank meeting.

Mr. Hunt had to have dropped a hint somewhere. That President Bush didn't get it, that's not a surprise.