Frank above mentions two oil corporations, one American based multinational Exxon/Mobil and Shell (Royal Dutch Shell) which is very much European. Now why the latter would the latter would want "American domination of the market" I cannot begin to imagine. Another he did not mention was BP/Amoco (British, BP having taken over the US Oil Company Amoco, BP already owned Standard Oil another American oil company).

The French Oil Company Total-Petrofina-Elf are certainly involved in Iraq and have been for years, none of their licences have been revoked since Saddam departed.

Oil, like any other commodity, gets sold to the highest bidder.

What Kevin says about money is perfectly correct. The "Oil Corporations" do make money, they employ both directly and indirectly a vast number of people the world over, their owners are a vast number of shareholders, including Insurance and Financial institutions who manage pension funds for millions of people.

The Oil & Gas industry is, and always has been, very much an "American game" in terms of technology - but they do not control it, and never have.