What happened to the Oil...

It seems that even many of the people in the CPA and the Program Review Board ("PRB") aren't really sure either. They also don't seem very eager to find any answers or put in place a system of accountability. At least that's the impression I get after reading the minuets of their APRIL 28, 2004 proceedings... "NEW PROPOSALS - #682—IAMB Crude Oil Metering--$5,000,000. Ministry of Oil (MoO)/COL Emmett DuBose. MoO proposes to provide metering at appropriate points in the Iraqi oil infrastructure to assess the input and output at key nodes in the system, assess performance of the infrastructure, and provide positive controls over the distribution and sales of crude and refined products. Metering for crude oil extraction and sales is presently nonexistent in Iraq. A critical step in restoring the Iraqi oil infrastructure is to provide a system to control accountability of crude oil and its products. This situation was highlighted at a meeting of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) in Kuwait City on March 17-18, 2004. The IAMB monitors the financial reporting and internal control systems established by the CPA and advises on the adequacy of such systems. Their specific recommendation was "the expeditious installation of metering equipment in accordance with standard oil industry practices."
The proposal was tabled to allow until MoO coordinates with the Iraqi Ministry of Finance.
TABLED"
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Well it looks like they're going to have to get back to this one, so it may take a bureaucratic minute, which is what mathematicians would probably call an unknown variable, before anybody really knows what has happened or even what is happening with Iraq’s Oil. But hey, it's only been a year now, right. As of the writing of this post, there have been no updates to the minutes.
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There were other "New Proposals" as well. There was "#681—Improve Crude Oil Flow to Daura--$34,500,000. Ministry of Oil(MoO)/COL Emmett DuBose. MoO proposes to make improvements to pipelines and power station #3 (PS3) to increase production at the Daura oil refinery..." and "#683—Umm Qasr Port Renovation--$15,280,000. Ministry of Trade (MoT)/Peter Babb. MoT proposes to repair and upgrade grain offloading facilities at Iraq's port of Umm Qasr. The renovation of the facilities is necessary to ensure the sustainable flow of the basic staple food needs of the Iraqi people..." Unfortunately these were Tabled for discussion as well.
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The only thing that seemed to be a pressing issue was "#685—Emerging Security Requirements--$500,000,000. CJTF-7/Lt Col James Reitzel. Recent developments throughout Iraq indicated the urgent need for increased security in as Iraqi sovereignty approaches. The requirement is for security related reconstruction and military needs arising, in large part, to the recent upswing in violence. To meet these needs, this proposal requests an additional $500 million from the DFI. We anticipate that some of these funds will be used to address security needs that are only now being identified, as the security situation is still evolving and the needs are being assessed on an ongoing basis. While specific project lines items are not defined, there is a well-defined process for executing these funds. The Commanders’ Emergency Response Program (CERP), Rapid Regional Response Program (R3P), and other established CPA contracting mechanisms will be leveraged to expedite project implementation under this program...".
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Put 500 Million Dollars on the line and everybody wants to get involved. In the end, this was the only item not Tabled for later discussion, and the vote was..."The representative of CPA Operations and Infrastructure made a motion to approve the proposal as amended; the representative of CPA Governance seconded. The board unanimously approved the proposal. APPROVED AS AMENDED: DFI -- $500,000,000." Everything between the first paragraph and the last paragraph of this item seemed to be about who's going to hand out and track the money, and how they're all going to get their cut.