Markey queries Bush on Hunt-Kurd oil deal

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The White House is now being queried on the connections to Ray Hunt, head of Hunt Oil Corp., regarding the companies deal with Iraq’s Kurdistan government.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., has sent a letter raising concerns over Hunt’s role on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Markey wants answers to 13 questions on Hunt’s role as well as what the White House knew about the deal.

Hunt Oil and the Kurdistan Regional Government signed an exploration and production contract Sept. 8. Baghdad was already furious at the KRG for signing previous oil deals and passing its own regional oil law.

The KRG says Baghdad isn’t moving fast enough on a national law governing the oil sector and claims it has the constitutional right to sign the deals.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Bergner, in a response Thursday to two letters from Markey concerning the Hunt-KRG deal, said the department warned Hunt prior to signing the deal.

“We continue to advise all companies that they incur significant political and legal risk by signing contracts with any party before the” national oil law is passed, Bergner wrote, “and that signature of such contracts would needlessly elevate tensions between the KRG and the Government of Iraq.”

Hunt originally denied talking to the State Department until confronted with internal department documents obtained by United Press International proving otherwise.

The national oil law is stuck in negotiations over what fields and exploration blocks will be controlled by the federal, regional and provincial governments, as well as the extent foreign and private companies will be allowed to invest in the currently nationalized oil sector.

Aside from being the first U.S. company to sign an oil deal with the KRG, Hunt’s chief executive officer is a longtime associate of the Bush family and a major fundraiser.

He also sits on the PFIAB, a board that vets intelligence information for the president, which critics say could have helped Hunt make the business deal.

“We appreciate the answers from the State Department, but this opens up a whole new set of questions for the White House,” Markey said in a statement. “Why would the President allow a man who serves on a high-level advisory board on foreign intelligence to snub his administration by flouting Iraqi law and needlessly elevating tensions when our troops are at risk?”

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Ben Lando, UPI Energy Editor

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(e-mail: blando@upi.com)