Oil in Iraq: ‘So Near Yet So Far’ For Bush & Co

A guard keeps watch over the al-Shiaaba oil refinery near Basra, in southern Iraq. Photo: AP

The Economist Intelligence Unit quotes a study that suggests that Iraq’s oil reserves could be almost as large as those of Saudi Arabia, the world’s leader.

But these findings come amid fresh evidence of the monumental difficulty of realising that potential, as bombs in Baghdad left 200 people dead in a single day and Iraqi MPs wrangled over the details of new oil legislation.

Hence President Bush and the US administration’s frustration at not realising in four years its real aim of substantial control over the oil wealth of Iraq.

“The reminder of the scale of Iraq’s unrealised oil wealth has come in the form of a report by IHS, an industry consultant, providing details of existing oil reserves and of more than 400 undrilled prospects and undeveloped discoveries.

“The Iraq Atlas estimates that Iraq has proven reserves of 116bn barrels (slightly higher than the standard industry figure), which could be supplemented by a further 100bn barrels in the barely explored desert region to the west of Baghdad.

“Saudi Arabia’s reserves are put at 264bn barrels, with Iran occupying second place in the world ranking with 138bn barrels.”

For this interesting story about Iraqi oil please click here…

Under these circumstances it seems impossible that peace would return to Iraq in the foreseeable future.

At times one wonders…Is it because of the greed that no lasting solution is being found to the Iraq crisis/tragedy? Isn’t it time to share the ’spoils’? Or is it too late???

Or, is it that the ‘other’ players are just waiting in the wings for the US to get totally exhausted…and then move on to the kill to claim bigger share???

It is indeed slippery out there in the oilfields!