Lance Cpl. Justin Bowles/U.S. Marine Corps
The New Republic: Why Is the Pentagon Still Paying $10 a Gallon for Gas?
Amid a global oil collapse, the military is overpaying politically connected contractors to keep its jets fueled in Iraq.
As any American who’s passed a gas station in the past two months knows, global oil markets are melting down. Even before coronavirus lockdowns led billions of people to halt their daily commutes, cratering demand for gasoline, Saudi Arabia and Russia had increased production of crude oil, the main component in refined fuels, in an attempt to drive each other out of business. Oil prices plummeted. For a brief period last month, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude dropped 300 percent, to negative $37.63. Its price now hovers around $20 a barrel—less than 50 cents per gallon—and some experts warn that “the coronavirus oil shock is just getting started.” It’s a terrible time to be in the fuel business.
Unless, that is, you have the right Iraqi connections, and you’re selling to the United States military and its contractors.
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WNU Editor: Corruption in the Middle East. Some things never change.
