Iraq is on course to overtake Iran as the holder of the world’s second-largest proven oil reserves, solidifying its position as the energy industry’s new frontier in the scramble to secure fresh resources.
Baghdad agreed on Friday to deals with Royal Dutch Shell and China’s CNPC for two large oilfields, following on from similar accords with ExxonMobil, Eni and BP.
Consultants who have analysed the agreements struck by Baghdad said the contracts underlined the companies’ confidence that they would be able to use modern seismic and drilling technology to get far more oil out of the fields than had previously been thought possible.
Iraq’s proven reserves now stand at 115bn barrels, below Iran’s 137bn and Saudi Arabia’s record 264bn. But Iraq’s reserves data dates from the 1970s, before the improvements in technology that transformed the industry.
[…]
Raad Alkadiri, an Iraq expert at PFC Energy in Washington, said the companies offered Iraq very good terms in the deals because they believed that the oilfields held more recoverable oil than was commonly assumed.
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#20
> the war was to prevent
> Sadaam from getting his
> wish to control the entire
> region and its oil.
Yep, that was part of the reason. Again, part. What was also clear is that simply taking out Bin Laden or even Al Qaeda would not solve the root problem of governments and individuals fostering and sponsoring terrorism.
#23
Washington cared about having governments solve terrorism problems in their own country if possible and if they were unwilling or unable to do that, then they would talk about ways of either containing that government, coercing them to change or forcing a regime change. Furthermore, the core focus was on Islamic terrorist groups and the governments that were helping them.
#24
There was at the time a prevailing attitude amongst almost all nations that Hussein had WMDs. Furthermore, we did in fact find chemical weapons in Iraq.
How many hundreds of billions or is it trillions of dollars did the U.S. pay to deploy the Mobil/Exxon Army of the Tigris and Euphrates ? I wonder how much that would factor into the cost of a gallon, and at interest yet !!!
Thomas #18 and #32
You are one of the stupidest people to ever post on this blog, and that is saying something.
#28 –
An other pipeline goes from Kirkuk to Banias on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. It was damaged during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. A Russian company won the contract to rebuild it.
The problem for the Iraqi Kurds is that they are landlocked. Eventually a pipeline extension hookup from an existing line could go through the Balkan Peninsula to Europe. A big potential market for the Kurds would be to connect to a pipeline going to China; although that may far off.
The estimates of oil into the future always change. Every time the price of oil goes up – exploration and drilling companies ramp up their efforts. Conversely, when the price of oil drops – oil related companies hold back on their operations. This is due to profits, either short term or long term. I think a test for the Peak Oil Theory is to constantly reevaluate the estimate for the drops in production and capacity of the world’s oil supply given very recent field discoveries and the efficiencies of energy usage of that oil.
If the price of oil increases, non-traditional sources of oil become profitable. An example of this is the Canadian oil sands in Alberta. (Canada is the country the U.S. imports the most oil from.) Another example is turning coal into gasoline. The price of oil has to above $40 in 2005 dollars for this to be profitable.
Market manipulation seems to have played a much larger role in the rise of oil prices in 2008 than what was believed at the time. I refer to the 60 minutes report that I mentioned earlier about Morgan Stanley. Another commodity that had a big run up were natural gas. The price of oil dropped by about 2/3 in a matter of months in 2008 and natural gas a bit more. Ask yourself: Is the world using that much less oil and natural gas to justify that drop?
In scanning the web today, China, Turkmenistan & Kazakhstan just commemorated the opening of a natural gas pipeline through their countries. Also, an Israeli and Saudi group seem to be working together for natural gas projects in Turkmenistan .
#32 “…we did in fact find chemical weapons in Iraq…”
Technically you’re right. I believe a few dozen chemical weapons that Rumsfeld sold to Hussein to use against the Iranians were found in Rumsfeld’s old office.
#34 Those are fighting words!
#34
No “yo momma” joke? No, “I know you are, but what am I? Frankly, I’m disappointed. If you are going to act like a spoiled juvenile, I expect more colorful retorts.
I realize that acting like a big boy is tough for little junior, but perhaps you might want to bring some actual insight on your post.
Interesting story you got here. It would be great to read a bit more about the matter.
“TAPI PIPELINE”
Real Reason of War in Afghanistan
http://gegenism.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/real-reason-of-war-in-afghanistan/
Experts estimate the Caspian could hold “possible reserves” of up to 233 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, Saudi Arabia has 261 billion barrels of oil and the United States 23 billion!
The 1,680 kilometres (1,040 mi) pipeline will run from the Dauletabad gas field to Afghanistan. From there TAPI will be constructed alongside the highway running from Herat to Kandahar, and then via Quettaand Multan in Pakistan. The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near the border between Pakistan and India.
ANY QUESTIONS?