Military feels gouge of fuel costs in Iraq

[unhappycamper]

Vehicles of the 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery, Georgia National Guard, returned to al-Asad Air Base, Iraq, after a three-day mission guarding a convoy of fuel tankers through the western Iraqi desert on March 4, 2006. Troops in Iraq use about 40,000 barrels of oil a day, and a price increase of even a few cents can end up costing the U.S. millions.


Military feels gouge of fuel costs in Iraq
By Anne Flaherty - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 3, 2008 6:21:51 EDT

WASHINGTON — Think you’re being gouged by Big Oil? U.S. troops in Iraq are paying almost as much as Americans back home, despite burning fuel at staggering rates in a war to stabilize a country known for its oil reserves.

Military units pay an average of $3.23 a gallon for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, some $88 a day per service member in Iraq, according to an Associated Press review and interviews with defense officials. A penny or two increase in the price of fuel can add millions of dollars to U.S. costs.

Critics in Congress are fuming. The U.S., they say, is getting suckered as the cost of the war exceeds half a trillion dollars — $10.3 billion a month, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Some lawmakers say oil-rich allies in the Middle East should be doing more to subsidize fuel costs because of the stake they have in a secure Iraq. Others point to Iraq’s own burgeoning surplus as crude oil prices top $100 a barrel. Baghdad subsidies let Iraqis pay only about $1.36 a gallon.

~snip~

Overall, the military consumes about 1.2 million barrels, or more than 50 million gallons of fuel, each month in Iraq at an average $127.68 a barrel. That works out to about $153 million a month.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_fuelcosts_iraq_040208/


uhc comment: This contradicts an earlier article saying the military is using 340,000 barrels of oil a month --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=6910

1,200,000 barrels a month it is.

[lfairban]

1. Now I know why gas prices are so high . . .

. . . it's that silly war in Iraq, using up all the available gasoline.

[jdlh8894]

2. $153 million a month?

Sounds kinda low. Just did some quick math - according to Wiki, there are 13,087 taxis in NY City w/40,000 other hirable vehicles. That,s 53,087 vehicles. Let us just say they use 20 gal./day @$4/gal. X 30 days =$127,408,800 just in the city alone!