Iraq could triple oil output, analyst says

"[Fadel Gheit, an oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co] estimated that Iraq could easily produce 6 million barrels a day, more than three times its current output and enough to help keep a lid on world prices.
. . . [Iraq's proposed oil law] has taken on significance beyond oil. While Iraq and foreign oil companies are eager to tap new revenue, the Bush administration and many Iraqis also hope that the law can be a model for resolving disputes and can bind Iraq's warring factions together.
. . . [James A. Placke, an expert at Cambridge Energy Research Associates] estimated that 200,000 barrels a day is siphoned from the main export line through southern Iraq. . . . What's left after discounts and bribes goes to militias or insurgent groups, he said.
In the south, some local Shia militia, clan or clerical groups are trying to claim the rights to some Iraqi fields and a voice in negotiating access for foreign companies. . . . Some experts worry that, as in Sudan, oil could contribute more to tearing the country apart than to uniting it.
. . . The national petroleum law remains a touchy subject in part because of widespread suspicion that the U.S. invasion in 2003 was motivated by designs on Iraq's oil riches."

source
The Washington Post. Iraq Struggles to Finish Oil Law. January 24, 2007.

posted: friday, january 26, 2007, 12:25 PM ET

tags: iraq oil