We Need That Iraqi Oil Flowing – It’s Happening Albeit Not Fast Enough

February 4, 2020 Stan

The Iraq oil flow is not what it should be, and yet, who is to blame for all that? Well, it’s safe to say that the new provincial government cannot get’s affairs in order, and there is a bit of sectarian struggle from within. Then there is the Kurds to the North, and even if they for the most part keep to themselves, there are factions within who are constantly at odds within Turkey, and that certainly isn’t helping their cause or ours – our need for oil flow that is.

Not only does the US need the oil, but more oil on the market would help India, and China, not to mention alleviate some of the price gouging going on at the top of the supply/demand curve. Well, OPEC, aside, we need that oil flowing in Iraq on the World Market. It has been estimated that we can expect a high oil output of 12-13 Billion barrels per year out of Iraq in the future, but right now we are lucky we can get 2.7 Billion barrels.

Still, the good news is things are changing, for instance Exxon has made a deal with the Kurdish area of Iraq. In fact, there was an interesting article on this recently in Industry Week on November 11, 2011 titled; “Exxon Inks Deal with Iraqi Kurdistan – Company could lose existing deal in Southern Iraq due to this deal,” by Salam Faraj, Agence France-Pressse.

Okay so there is good and bad about this deal, but consider also that, this would involve the right for Exxon to explore and exploit “six blocks” in the Kurdish area. The central government of Iraq obviously is a little concerned, they believe that the oil found belongs to all the people of Iraq and thus, any royalty proceeds should go to it.

So, now it is about money, after the agreement between the Kurds in the North and the central government in the South had already been hammered out. Well, that’s just the Middle East way of doing business, first an agreement is made and then the negotiation starts. From a Westerners perspective, yes, that takes a little getting used to, and unfortunately, we seem to be learning the hard way – over-and-over again. Remind me what the definition of insanity is?

Now then, we still need those pipelines in, but the violence needs to simmer down first -fat chance with Iran’s influence in the mix and the ongoing sectarian struggle jockeying for power. The Saga goes on, with more chapters to write, in fact, another one is about to begin and it will be a big one which may define permanent changes in the region, right here, right now, history is being made in the present period. Please consider all this.