Billions in Oil Missing in Iraq, U.S. Study Says
NewYork TimesBy JAMES GLANZ
Published: May 12, 2007Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq’s declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, according to a draft American government report.Graphic Missing Oil
Using an average of $50 a barrel, the report said the discrepancy was valued at $5 million to $15 million daily.The report does not give a final conclusion on what happened to the missing fraction of the roughly two million barrels pumped by Iraq each day, but the findings are sure to reinforce longstanding suspicions that smugglers, insurgents and corrupt officials control significant parts of the country’s oil industry.The report also covered alternative explanations for the billions of dollars worth of discrepancies, including the possibility that Iraq has been consistently overstating its oil production.Iraq and the State Department, which reports the numbers, have been under relentless pressure to show tangible progress in Iraq by raising production levels, which have languished well below the United States goal of three million barrels a day. Read more: ►
صحيفة: دراسة أمريكية تكشف اختفاء نفط عراقي قيمته مليارات الدولارات
Related articles:
Reuters: Iraq oil law unworkable in current state
قانون النفط العراقي غير قابل للتطبيق
مرة ثالثة: ملاحظات حول مسودة قانون النفط والغاز- فؤاد قاسم الأمير
Al-Ghad is pleased to publish “The Third Time” by Fouad al-Amir. Following his previous two important articles (here and here) al-Amir clarifies and explains the sorry and confusing state into which the Iraqi Draft Oil Law has descended. This is a major study of Iraq’s current Oil policy and politics in Arabic. Al-Ghad hopes to publish an English summary later.
