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Syriana

U.S. energy giant Connex Oil is losing control of key oil fields in a Persian Gulf kingdom ruled by the Al-Subaai family. The Emirate 's foreign minister, Prince Nasir, has granted natural gas drilling rights to a Chinese company, greatly upsetting the U.S. oil industry and the U.S. government. To compensate for its decreased production capacity, Connex initiates a shady merger with Killen, a smaller oil company that recently won the drilling rights to Kazakhstan 's Tengiz Field. If Connex-Killen were a country, it would rank as the world's twenty-third largest economy, and antitrust regulators at the Department of Justice (DOJ) have concerns. Whiting-Sloan, a Washington, D.C.–based law firm headed by Dean Whiting, is hired to smooth the way for the merger. Bennett Holiday, an associate of that firm, is assigned to promote the impression of due diligence to the DOJ, deflecting any allegations of corruption.