The U.S. Army has awarded $2 billion worth of contracts to repair Iraq's oil industry to a unit of Vice President Dick Cheney's old firm Halliburton and U.S. construction giant Parsons.
The two contracts, one for the northern oil fields that went to Parsons and the other for Iraq's southern oil fields that went to Halliburton 's Kellogg Brown and Root, followed months of controversy over work done by KBR under its first deal to rebuild the oil sector.
The first contract to rebuild the oil sector was handed to KBR last March on a no-competition basis and the Corps pointed out that yesterday's contracts were awarded in "full and open competition"
KBR's first Restore Iraqi Oil contract was clouded with controversy, from allegations in a draft audit that the company overcharged for fuel brought into Iraq to others that it got the work because of its close ties to the White House.
KBR has several other lucrative contracts with the military, including providing logistics such as doing laundry, making meals and delivering mail. Under that deal, it has clocked up more than $3 billion worth of business in Iraq. In addition, the company was awarded a construction and engineering contract with the U.S. military this week with a ceiling value of $1.5 billion.