$153 million a month goes to filling up jets, tankers, cargo in Iraq

[Earth_First]

updated 3:40 p.m. ET, Wed., April. 2, 2008

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.

The U.S. military, through its Defense Energy Support Center, buys fuel on the open market, paying from $1.99 a gallon to as much as $5.30 a gallon under contracts with private and government-owned oil companies. The center then sets a fixed rate for troops, currently $3.51 a gallon for diesel, $3.15 for gasoline, $3.04 for jet fuel and $13.61 for a high-octane fuel used mostly in unmanned aerial vehicles.

Kuwait does grant substantial subsidies, but they cover only about half the fuel used by the U.S. in Iraq. And the discount is eaten up by the Energy Support Center's administrative costs and fluctuations in the market.

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.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23922063

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. Go Cheney!

:silly: War profits good! :silly:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

2. Global Gas Guzzler

The Pentagon v. Peak Oil
How Wars of the Future May Be Fought Just to Run the Machines That Fight Them
By Michael T. Klare

Sixteen gallons of oil. That's how much the average American soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan consumes on a daily basis -- either directly, through the use of Humvees, tanks, trucks, and helicopters, or indirectly, by calling in air strikes. Multiply this figure by 162,000 soldiers in Iraq, 24,000 in Afghanistan, and 30,000 in the surrounding region (including sailors aboard U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf) and you arrive at approximately 3.5 million gallons of oil: the daily petroleum tab for U.S. combat operations in the Middle East war zone.

Multiply that daily tab by 365 and you get 1.3 billion gallons: the estimated annual oil expenditure for U.S. combat operations in Southwest Asia. That's greater than the total annual oil usage of Bangladesh, population 150 million -- and yet it's a gross underestimate of the Pentagon's wartime consumption.

Such numbers cannot do full justice to the extraordinary gas-guzzling expense of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, for every soldier stationed "in theater," there are two more in transit, in training, or otherwise in line for eventual deployment to the war zone -- soldiers who also consume enormous amounts of oil, even if less than their compatriots overseas. Moreover, to sustain an "expeditionary" army located halfway around the world, the Department of Defense must move millions of tons of arms, ammunition, food, fuel, and equipment every year by plane or ship, consuming additional tanker-loads of petroleum. Add this to the tally and the Pentagon's war-related oil budget jumps appreciably, though exactly how much we have no real way of knowing.

...
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174810/">The Pentagon As Global Gas Guzzler

[margotb822]

3. Don't forget about the ships!

You know how much gas it takes to get from say, San Diego, to the Gulf, drive around for months and then go back? Lots! Upwards of 24,000 gal per day! So six ships in a battle group x 24,000 gal per day x 210 days (standard deployment)=30,240,000 for one deployment. Let me say that again: 30,240,000. And, it's mostly diesel, so multiply that $4 and thats $125 million. Deploy 3-4 battle groups at a time and that's half a billion. And, this doesn't even count the jet fuel for the planes and helos! Nor does it count the fuel that ships use to train for deployment or all the ships that deploy outside of a battle group. Shit ain't cheap!



Full disclosure: I am in the Navy and have been responsible for fuel calculations on different types of ships.