Low Iraq Output Pushes Oil Prices Higher

[Robbien]

Associated Press by JIM KRANE

. . .

The rickety Iraqi oil system has been damaged repeatedly by insurgent sabotage and attacks on maintenance crews. Corruption, theft of oil, and widespread mismanagement compound the problems, analysts say. Iraq also lacks laws that would protect foreign investment, and its government is still sorting out whether oil will be controlled by the central government or the provinces.

The result: Iraq is importing refined oil products at record high prices at a time that it should be boosting exports to take advantage of those prices to earn money for reconstruction.

In 2005, Iraq's exports averaged just 1.4 million barrels a day, which earned the country about $26 billion. This winter proved disastrous, with January exports failing to reach even 1 million barrels a day, said George Orwel, an analyst with Petroleum Intelligence Weekly in New York. "It's a mess," he said. "At some point Iraq is going to be back in the picture, but it's been a very bad couple of years. They're missing out."

In 1990, probably its peak production year, Iraq extracted about 3.5 million barrels a day. Restoring production to that level would require years and a $30 billion investment, Orwel said, even in the "best case scenario."

. . .

For instance, exports from Iraq's southern oil fields have been hampered by the decrepit tugboats needed to pilot tankers to Persian Gulf terminals. The tugs, so old that spare parts can't be bought, frequently broke down or weren't seaworthy enough to handle rough winter seas. As a result, charges from tankers forced to delay loading cost Iraq $50 million over the past year, which the oil ministry paid by giving away oil, Orwel said.

Insurgents have been so deft at shutting down the pipelines from the giant fields around the northern city of Kirkuk that Iraqi authorities tried to move crude by truck to its refineries and crude-burning power plants. But after insurgents attacked the trucks, drivers became difficult to recruit and the oil ministry was forced to cut production, Orwel said.

more
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/04/28/ap2706772.html

[saigon68]

1. drivers became difficult to recruit

LOL

[Robbien]

2. This is where the Philippine slave labor comes into the picture

Being forced to go on death runs.

[saigon68]

7. So True

That's why Jose Honrado from Pampanga gets blown to bits for 1500 P a day

[Roland99]

3. I say we send Wolfowitz in there to personally rectify the situation

[orwell]

4. Bremer...

...removed the metering system on Iraqi oil output. Any claims about current production rates are highly suspect.

This not only allows US criminal enterprises to skim the flow, but also provides a convienient cover story to jack up energy speculation on the NY Merc. A nice one two punch by anyone's standards.

I'd say Mission Acomplished!

[Lance_Boyle]

5. 'George Orwel, an analyst with Petroleum Intelligence Weekly...'

<sigh>

[leftchick]

6. 'earned the country 26 billion in 2005'

the country that got the money was not Iraq and it wasn't the US, it was the corporations. :eyes:

[BootinUp]

8. This is like the terrorism thing,

see this other thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2253002

you can't measure this month to month, or year to year, its going to take much longer.

:sarcasm:




on edit, added sarcasm thingy.

[Barrett808]

9. Iraq Oil Outpust Lowest Since Invasion

Iraq Oil Outpust Lowest Since Invasion
By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - With oil prices above $70 a barrel fouling the world economy, dismay is focusing on Iraq, whose exports have slipped to their lowest levels since the 2003 invasion.

"Iraq could be making a tremendous difference," said Dalton Garis, an economist at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. Instead, its shortfall is "a significant contributing factor to the high price of oil," he said.

Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, sits atop the world's third-highest proven reserves. Its estimated 115 billion barrels is more than any other OPEC member except for Saudi Arabia and Iran.

But contrary to optimistic expectations, Iraq's oil production has slipped further and further since the U.S.-led invasion, to an average of 2 million barrels a day. It has never regained even the reduced production levels that prevailed in the 1990s, when Iraq was under tough U.N. sanctions.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_oil

[billybob537]

10. Shithead

is running Iraq just like the three oil companies he ran into the ground.