Derelict Plants Are Crippling Iraq's Oil Industry

[Rose Siding]

Iraq is facing enormous pressure to convert its rich oil inheritance into a measure of comfort and prosperity. Despite having 100 billion to 200 billion barrels of oil reserves, the third most in the world by some estimates, Iraq still must import half its gasoline and thousands of tons of heating oil, cooking gas and other refined products.

And with the petroleum sector crumbling, Iraqi officials must soon decide whether to invest in time-consuming repairs and upgrades, or try to extract everything they can from the creaky equipment, as Saddam Hussein did. It is a tricky decision: Because the rebuilding effort is financed from oil revenues, shutting down the system for desperately needed repairs cuts back on the money available for further repairs.
...
Washington has set aside $1.7 billion for Iraq's oil industry, although up to 40 percent of that money is projected to go for overhead costs, including security, said Julian O'Connell, a manager at the Project and Contracting Office, which is administering the program.
...
The shortfalls are compounded by government subsidies that keep prices absurdly low. Gasoline, for example, costs about 5 cents a gallon for people who are willing to wait in lines for hours at gas stations, which like the rest of the petroleum industry are government-owned. The black-market price in Baghdad ranges from 50 cents in normal times to nearly $2 during a nationwide fuel crisis in January.

http://nytimes.com/2005/03/03/international/middleeast/03pipeline.html?hp&ex=1109826000&en=ed9a4365a0d0c36f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Moderator]

1. kick to combine

[leftchick]

2. Iraq must choose on oil - produce or repair?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/03/news/oil.html

The plants and refineries that turn those barrels into usable products will have to increase their output at the same time. Twenty-three months after the invasion and the looting that followed, for example, the damaged heating-fuel plant managed by Ibraheem has still achieved only about a third of its production level during the last days of Saddam's rule, when the plant put out 3,000 tons a day of liquified petroleum gas.
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<snip>

"Yeah, it makes you want to cry," said Alton Braudaway, an engineer in plant services with Kellogg.
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The problems with the liquefied gas heating-fuel plant, though, immediately caught the attention of Kellogg engineers as they drove up in a convoy of sport utility vehicles.
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"It is very dangerous," Humphries said of the gas streaming from the broken towers. "You're just pushing it off into the atmosphere."
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Ibraheem, the production manager, said the British military, which has responsibility for the south of Iraq, had been warned not to fly in the area. And as he began to lead a tour through the plant, he asked a photographer not to use his flash. "Camera makes sparks," Ibraheem said.

[meganmonkey]

3. Leftchick and Rose Siding - I will take this moment

to thank both of you for working so hard in LBN. You guys do a great job!!!!!

:yourock: