iraq

It has long been speculated that oil can be a driver for civil conflict, and one needs to look no further for evidence than the sectarian power politics that is threatening the possible devolution of the Iraqi state. The recent announcement by the government that Iraq is seeking to build a 1 million b/d pipeline to Aqaba, Jordan, is not evidence that Iraq is seeking to boost its economic building efforts, but rather a geopolitical hedge.[read more]

A pair of items in today's Financial Times could signal a longer run of high oil prices, even if Europe were to slip into recession and economic growth elsewhere slow. Geoffrey Styles explains how the combination of Saudi Arabia's increase of its target oil price and Venezuela's volatile leader will affect long run oil prices.[read more]

Does Iraq have what it takes to shake up the global energy market? Oil production capacity growth in Iraq and Saudi Arabia hold the key to future oil market stability, but the outlook for gains in the near to intermediate term looks cloudy, according to a new study by the Baker Institute. Political instability in a number of oil-...[read more]

The following is a press release by VoteVets, who continues to make a strong case for comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation to protect our national security. Vets launch compelling national and state television and online ad campaign in support of issue WASHINGTON, DC – A compelling new poll of Iraq and Afghanistan...[read more]

The following guest essay is by Kevin Kane. Kevin is a market analyst, economist, Asia political affairs strategist, and Korean language linguist living in Seoul, South Korea. Kevin previously published American Freedom from Oil: A Bipartisan Pipedream. ------------------- Iraq Oil & Gas Production: Geopolitical Compromises and...[read more]

I missed commenting on the latest round of oil deals in Iraq, which could see that country's output quickly double and eventually quadruple, causing no small amount of anxiety within OPEC. It's looking increasingly likely that the world may need that oil sooner rather than later, though. While the backdrops of photos from Copenhagen...[read more]

When the US invaded Ba'athist Iraq, many ascribed that action to a desire to seize the country's vast oil reserves and develop them on terms favorable to us, presumably to keep the days of cheap oil rolling on. After six years of oil prices far above their pre-war level, the last vestiges of that theory should be laid to rest by a...[read more]

Keith Johnson at the WSJ's Environmental Capital blog has a post on a recent Deutsche Bank report predicting peak oil in 2016 - Peak Oil: The End Of the Oil Age is Near, Deutsche Bank Says. The report notes that if the cost of the war in Iraq was taken into account, prices at the pump would soar - "If the US government taxed US gasoline...[read more]

From a good article in today’s New York Times: 2009 is turning out to be a bumper year for new oil discoveries; new oil discoveries always occur, but this year has been unusually fruitful. This quote from the article illustrates the important dynamic intertemporal incentives that price signals provide: These discoveries, spanning five...[read more]

The Guardian has a report on the impact of falling water levels in the Euphrates river in Iraq - Water shortage threatens two million people in southern Iraq.A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq's civilisation is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without...[read more]

Michael Klare has an article in TomDispatch on "The (Re)Making of a Petro-State", asking if Iraq will become "a Global Gas Pump" ? - Michael Klare, Peak Oil and the Remaking of Iraq. Klare has picked up on the idea (well - fact, in my opinion) that people have under-estimated Iraq oil reserves and the country could "add as much as six...[read more]

The Economist has an article on another stumble forward for the Nabucco gas pipleine, which I've long believed will end up transporting Iraqi gas (as opposed to Iraqi oil) to Europe - He who pays for the pipelines calls the tune.TRAGEDY and farce have too often been the hallmarks of European efforts to improve energy security....[read more]

The Independent has a look at the side-effects of falling water levels in Iraq - As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed.Swarms of snakes are attacking people and cattle in southern Iraq as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers dry up and the reptiles lose their natural habitat among the reed beds."People are terrified and are...[read more]

In the endless war of words over whether it’s a war about oil (meaning the current war in Iraq, not the prior war in Iraq), people sometimes bring up the issue of what US Vice President Dick Cheney said in a public appearance in 1999, what it implies about his knowledge of peak oil, etc. The speech was at the London Institute of...[read more]

So, we now see that there’s about to be one heck of an oil deal between some US companies and Iraq (emphasis added): Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power....[read more]