Iraq oil output falls behind pre-war levels

[Barrett808]

Iraq oil output falls behind pre-war levels
U.S. has spent millions to repair looted, out-of-date, damaged facilities to help fund new government.
RICK JERVIS
USA TODAY

BASRA, Iraq - Iraq's oil production has fallen below prewar levels to its lowest point in a decade, depriving the country's fledgling government of badly needed income and preventing the United States from achieving one of its main reconstruction goals.

Iraq's oil wells, beset by equipment problems and saboteurs, are producing about 1.9 million barrels a day in net production, lower than the 2.6 million they were producing just before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, according to the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies.

Of the oil produced, about 500,000 barrels are consumed daily by Iraqis, while 1.4 million barrels are exported, CGES says.

Despite the challenges, Iraq has benefited from rising oil prices, which have soared to more than $60 a barrel. Iraq's oil revenue jumped from $5 billion in 2003 - when the price of oil was about half of today's - to $17 billion in 2004, according to the U.S. State Department.

Still, the production trend is troubling. The average daily production last year was 2.07 million barrels, according to CGES. This year through August, Iraq has produced an average of 1.86 million barrels, it said.

"There's a lot of pessimism about oil production in Iraq," says Michelle Billig, a political risk analyst in the oil sector for PIRA Energy Group.

(more)

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=business&story_id=101105d1_oil

[marmar]

1. Just to put the finishing touches...

on the Iraq War being a complete and total disaster.

[bemildred]

2. Iraq oil ouput has been a fraction of pre-war levels since the invasion.

The fact that it's hitting new lows is important, though.

[Wilms]

3. Mission Accomplished!

That's what they want.

Who needs that Iraqi oil on the market now? It would only lower the price.

[jamesinca]

5. On the flip side of that is this argument

The price of oil has gone up to double the cost before the war. So what they lack in production they make in for in cost per unit. They are up on profits and down on production. This should be paying for itself at this point according to the Bush administration, or at least this was the pre-war claim. They could be exceeding pre-war levels of production and have the price bottom out and still not be able to finance their own reconstruction. But the profits are up, so why do we have to finance the reconstruction anymore? It is all about Bush making money off of the American taxpayer from his corporate connections. Dick Cheney has had more than 3,000% increase in his stock values since becoming the VP. Funny how that works.

[LynnTheDem]

4. AMERICA...

Worse than Saddam.

Yeah well the truth fucking hurts, don't it.