Iraqi Oil Could Offer Change in the Middle East

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). With the threat of an American invasion of Iraq moving in rapidly, questions are posed about the stability of the region after the U.S. has successfully ousted the current Iraqi Regime. Questions are also raised concerning the cost that American taxpayers would have to carry for victory over the ruling regime of Iraq. There is one answer for both questions - American controlled Iraqi oil.

Iraq is home to the second largest oil reserve in the world, but because of sanctions, regional instability, and the continual destruction of infrastructure in the country since the gulf war, its full potential has never been realized, such as is the case with its neighbor Saudi Arabia. A U.S. supported post-Saddam democratic government, could capitalize on Iraq's significant natural resources. Of course, Russia would be involved with this venture, as well as the other countries who sign on for the mission, offering a monetary incentive to follow the U.S. and allowing Russia to collect on the Soviet-era debt incurred by Iraq in the neighborhood of $7 billion. A new Iraqi government would benefit from this scenario, offering quick cash to rebuild destroyed infrastructure and government assistance programs for the population of Iraq as buyers from all over the world would line up at the new candy store.

Investors, such as Russia and China, who have already begun planning for over 400 new wells to be drilled in Iraq, would be able reap more than they ever expected given the current situation. America would name its price for its war costs, approximately $9 billion a month for the duration of the war, and then profit would be made by all for the next 100 years.

Saudi Arabia holds approximately 265 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and Iraq has approximately 112 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. It is estimated that Saudi Arabia contains around 1 trillion barrels of oil that could be recovered and Iraq approximately 220 billion barrels of oil, but that number could be underestimated because the country has never been fully explored. With increased oil production coming from Iraq that would eclipse the current rates of 2.5 million barrels a day for 2001, Iraq could rival Saudi Arabia}s production rate of almost 9 million barrels a day for 2001.