Iraq plans to triple its oil production to 6 million b/d by 2015, and officials there say they hope for divine help in attracting the $20 billion in foreign investment they need to achieve that ambitious goal.
Raising $20 billion would be easier if the government could only bring its problems under control. Iraqi government officials are highly aware of those problems, as demonstrated by N.K. Al-Bayati, director-general of Iraq’s oil ministry, in a speech at the Oil & Gas Asia Conference last week in Kuala Lumpur.
Al-Bayati said that to boost output and woo international investors and oil companies, Iraq needed to ensure security, put in place a legal framework, and formulate a national oil policy.
“Hopefully, this [when in place] will help regain international confidence in Iraq. Iraq will become a new hot spot in the Middle East for oil production,” he said.
The potential
Nobody doubts Iraq’s potential, least of all Al-Bayati, who told delegates at the conference that the proposed increase in output from the current level of 1.8 million b/d could be accomplished in two phases: 3.5-4 million b/d by 2010 and 5.5-6 million b/d by 2015.
The problem is that insurgents keep causing delays in the production and export of Iraqi oil.
On June 3, for example, three gunmen were killed when an explosive charge they were trying to plant under an oil pipeline in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk went off. The explosion still caused a large fire, which damaged the pipeline.
The dead bombers may have been the same ones who in late March detonated an explosive charge against an oil pipeline near Kirkuk. On that occasion, the bombers got away even as a huge fire broke out and a large amount of oil leaked as a result of the blast.
Consequences noted
The blast and its consequences for Iraqi exports were noted around the globe.
“A northern oil company official said saboteurs had attacked the main export pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan,” analysts at Sucden brokerage said. “It is expected to take another 10 days before exports can resume.”
In his speech at the Kuala Lumpur conference, Al-Bayati said Iraq was optimistic it would be able to achieve its growth targets despite the ongoing violence.
“We are very optimistic. We have to be. We have no alternative,” he said. “God willing, the money will come.”
Perhaps that’s the reason why Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum recently met in Najaf with top Shiite cleric Grand Sayyid Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani and said the government will build a refinery in the holy city.
As they say in the region, insh’allah.