Word: bbl
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Bush Administration is optimistic about cranking up the flow quickly. Vice President Cheney recently said, "We ought to be able to get their production back up in order of 2.5 [to] 3 million bbl. a day within, hopefully, by the end of the year." For now, at least, U.S. policymakers envision Iraq as a swing producer, one that can provide just enough oil to even out world supply and demand and prop up prices. (If there were a truly free market in oil, crude would sell for $12 a bbl. or less instead of $26, and gasoline would...
...that the war is over and the U.S. occupies Iraq, the country's role as swing producer presents a different set of problems. If Iraq limits its production to 2.5 million to 3.5 million bbl. a day, it will fail to generate enough revenue to rebuild its infrastructure, pay off at least a portion of the $400 billion it owes in debt and war reparations, modernize existing oil fields, open new ones and raise the living standards of its people. In fact, a State Department--sponsored advisory group of Iraqi exiles has concluded that the country needs to double...
...often been the victim, ever since oil was discovered near Kirkuk in 1927, within miles of the biblical fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. The Iraq Petroleum Co., jointly owned by U.S., British, French and Dutch oil giants, drilled the first well. It gushed at a rate of 100,000 bbl. a day. That much cheap oil was the last thing the international oil companies wanted. They clamped a lid on the well and sat on the field through the 1930s because the world was awash in oil, and prices were already depressed. Texas crude had fallen from $1.30 per bbl...
...short, Iraq has never come close to achieving its potential. Production peaked at 3.5 million bbl. daily in 1979. How much the new Iraq produces will turn on many variables: Whether a new government encourages foreign oil companies with the technical expertise and financial wherewithal to develop fields. Whether Iraq returns to its status as a dutiful member of OPEC and abides by the group's production quotas--or ignores them and produces whatever volume is good for Iraqi citizens. Whether Iraq forms alliances with Russia, France and China, among others, to manage production--and whether American and British companies...
...imports. Rather, they were using primitive technology and needed to make investments in their infrastructure. In fact, Russia today is the world's second largest producer, after Saudi Arabia. Instead of becoming a major buyer of middle east oil, as the CIA had warned, Russia ships 3 million bbl. A day to other countries, including...