Word: bbl
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...state of Iran's economy. Though it sits on the world's third largest reserves of oil, Iran faces a growing economic crisis. The government is dependent on oil exports for 85% of its revenue, but Iran's aging production capacity is diminishing by about 500,000 bbl. per year, according to some analyses. What oil it can produce, it has little ability to refine, importing as much as 50% of its gasoline. In 2007, Iran imposed gas-rationing, which set off riots...
...regulations that are tougher than national laws, provided that the Environmental Protection Agency issues a waiver, which was denied under George W. Bush.) For Obama, the simple fact that these habitually warring parties were willing to come together on the new requirements was as important as the 1.8 billion bbl. of oil and 900 million metric tons of greenhouse gases the rules are expected to save. "In the past, an agreement such as this would have been considered impossible," he said. "What everyone here believes, even as views differ on many important issues, is that the status...
...remained in power. The Iranian regime believes it can weather the same degree of losses, especially as it has adequately prepared its populace for "martyrdom." As a result, it believes it is able to withstand much greater human and material losses than the U.S. A $100-per-bbl. spike in the price of oil and a few thousand Americans dead, its thinking goes, will convince the U.S. to seek a truce...
...Petroleum & Oil Corp. last month invested $10 billion in Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company and the prime operator of one of the most promising new offshore fields in the world. The deal gives Petrobras capital to further develop the field. In return, China will get 100,000 bbl. to 160,000 bbl. a day for more than 20 years. And just before the Brazilian deal, Beijing agreed to lend $15 billion to cash-strapped Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company, and an additional $10 billion to Transneft, Russia's biggest pipeline company. The loans will be paid...
Then there's oil. In 2007 and '08, state-controlled Petrobras discovered up to 12 billion bbl. beneath the Atlantic floor about 155 miles (250 km) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The oil lies almost 3 miles (5 km) below sea level and is covered by a thick layer of salt, so extraction will be a massive undertaking. And while the discovery promised a windfall when oil was $140 per bbl., at today's price of $40, profitability will be a challenge. Nor is oil always the blessing that it appears; in nations from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia...