The Reasons Behind Big Oil Declining Iraq's Riches

Any notion that the invasion of Iraq was simply an oil grab took another hit on Tuesday when Baghdad opened the bidding on the rights to develop its massive energy reserves. In a day-long auction of eight huge oil fields

Despite the rich deposits on offer, energy companies were put off by the prices demanded by the Iraqi government, and continuing concerns over the security situation in the country. And their caution has dealt a blow to Baghdad’s efforts to raise billions of dollars desperately needed to rebuild.

… Iraq remains enormously tantalizing for Big Oil, whose prospects for tapping huge new fields around the world are shrinking. The country’s 115 billion barrels in proven reserves, most of it untapped, make it perhaps the last major oil territory yet to be spoken for. Engineers recently estimated that there may even be a further 150 billion barrels underground that have not yet been surveyed, much of it in the vast Western Desert. If true, Iraq could one day potentially match Saudi Arabia, whose output of 9.6 million barrels a day makes it the world’s largest producer. Iraq currently pumps just 2.4 million barrels a day, because its oil facilities need huge capital upgrades. “Even if this process had gone as planned it’s still not sure that the targets would be reached,” says Leila Benali of the Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Still, Iraqi officials are confident that with enough international expertise and investment, their country could produce 6 million barrels a day within a decade.

Time