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ANWR's mean estimates of the amount of economically recoverable oil
are approximately 6 billion barrels at $25/barrel and roughly 8
billion barrels at very high prices such a $100/barrel or more.
http://www.sibelle.info/oped15.htm
The exact amount of Iraq's oil reserves are unknown because the
country is relatively unexplored due to years of war and sanctions.
The number of proven reserves are 112 billion barrels, but the Energy
Information Administration of the US Department of Energy has
estimated that Iraqi reserves could possibly total over 400 billion
barrels. Iraq's oil minister has said that he is sure "we will exceed
the 300 billion barrels when all Iraq's regions are explored." If this
is true, Iraq's oil reserves would exceed those of Saudi Arabia's
which are listed at 260 billion barrels.
In addition, Iraq's oil production costs are amongst the lowest in the
world. "According to Oil and Gas Journal, Western oil companies
estimate that they can produce a barrel of Iraqi oil for less than
$1.50 and possibly as little as $1, including all exploration,
oilfield development and production costs and including a 15% return.
This is similar to production costs in Saudi Arabia and lower than
virtually any other country."
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/12heart.htm
With ANWR, on the other hand, absolutely no oil is commercially
recoverable at a price of less than $13/barrel and about $20/barrel is
probably needed to recover even 4 billion barrels. So, in other words,
if Bush's oil Nazis ever left Iraq alone so they could develop and
produce their oil, any oil wells in ANWR or Texas, for that matter are
not going to be worth very much. In Texas and other US and Canadian
fields, where deep wells and small reservoirs make production
especially expensive, costs can run above $20 a barrel. When world
market prices dip below $20 a barrel, the North American fields yield
no profit at all, and many are capped, while production in an area
like Iraq proves extremely profitable in all market conditions.
So, now you know why Bush and his oil Nazis are in Iraq. They're not
there to get the oil out of the ground. They're there to keep it in
the ground:
"Keeping Iraq's Oil In the Ground
By Greg Palast, AlterNet
Posted on June 14, 2006, Printed on November 7, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/37371/
World oil production today stands at more than twice the 15-billion a-
year maximum projected by Shell Oil in 1956 -- and reserves are
climbing at a faster clip yet. That leaves the question, Why this war?
Did Dick Cheney send us in to seize the last dwindling supplies?
Unlikely. Our world's petroleum reserves have doubled in just twenty-
five years -- and it is in Shell's and the rest of the industry's
interest that this doubling doesn't happen again. The neo-cons were
hell-bent on raising Iraq's oil production. Big Oil's interest was in
suppressing production, that is, keeping Iraq to its OPEC quota or
less. This raises the question, did the petroleum industry, which had
a direct, if hidden, hand, in promoting invasion, cheerlead for a
takeover of Iraq to prevent overproduction?
It wouldn't be the first time. If oil is what we're looking for, there
are, indeed, extra helpings in Iraq. On paper, Iraq, at 112 billion
proven barrels, has the second largest reserves in OPEC after Saudi
Arabia. That does not make Saudi Arabia happy. Even more important is
that Iraq has fewer than three thousand operating wells... compared to
one million in Texas.
That makes the Saudis even unhappier. It would take a decade or more,
but start drilling in Iraq and its reserves will about double,
bringing it within gallons of Saudi Arabia's own gargantuan pool.
Should Iraq drill on that scale, the total, when combined with the
Saudis', will drown the oil market. That wouldn't make the Texans too
happy either. So Fadhil Chalabi's plan for Iraq to pump 12 million
barrels a day, a million more than Saudi Arabia, is not, to use Bob
Ebel's (Center fro Strategic and International Studies) terminology,
"ridiculous" from a raw resource view, it is ridiculous politically.
It would never be permitted. An international industry policy of
suppressing Iraqi oil production has been in place since 1927. We need
again to visit that imp called "history."
It began with a character known as "Mr. 5%"-- Calouste Gulbenkian --
who, in 1925, slicked King Faisal, neophyte ruler of the country
recently created by Churchill, into giving Gulbenkian's "Iraq
Petroleum Company" (IPC) exclusive rights to all of Iraq's oil.
Gulbenkian flipped 95% of his concession to a combine of western oil
giants: Anglo-Persian, Royal Dutch Shell, CFP of France, and the
Standard Oil trust companies (now ExxonMobil and its "sisters.") The
remaining slice Calouste kept for himself -- hence, "Mr. 5%."
The oil majors had a better use for Iraq's oil than drilling it -- not
drilling it. The oil bigs had bought Iraq's concession to seal it up
and keep it off the market. To please his buyers' wishes, Mr. 5%
spread out a big map of the Middle East on the floor of a hotel room
in Belgium and drew a thick red line around the gulf oil fields,
centered on Iraq. All the oil company executives, gathered in the
hotel room, signed their name on the red line -- vowing not to drill,
except as a group, within the red-lined zone. No one, therefore, had
an incentive to cheat and take red-lined oil. All of Iraq's oil,
sequestered by all, was locked in, and all signers would enjoy a lift
in worldwide prices. Anglo-Persian Company, now British Petroleum
(BP), would pump almost all its oil, reasonably, from Persia (Iran).
Later, the Standard Oil combine, renamed the Arabian-American Oil
Company (Aramco), would limit almost all its drilling to Saudi Arabia.
Anglo-Persian (BP) had begun pulling oil from Kirkuk, Iraq, in 1927
and, in accordance with the Red-Line Agreement, shared its Kirkuk and
Basra fields with its IPC group -- and drilled no more. . ."
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/37371/
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/12heart.htm
http://www.sibelle.info/oped15.htm
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2003/0512globalenvironment_luft.aspx
http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/sp070111.shtml
are approximately 6 billion barrels at $25/barrel and roughly 8
billion barrels at very high prices such a $100/barrel or more.
http://www.sibelle.info/oped15.htm
The exact amount of Iraq's oil reserves are unknown because the
country is relatively unexplored due to years of war and sanctions.
The number of proven reserves are 112 billion barrels, but the Energy
Information Administration of the US Department of Energy has
estimated that Iraqi reserves could possibly total over 400 billion
barrels. Iraq's oil minister has said that he is sure "we will exceed
the 300 billion barrels when all Iraq's regions are explored." If this
is true, Iraq's oil reserves would exceed those of Saudi Arabia's
which are listed at 260 billion barrels.
In addition, Iraq's oil production costs are amongst the lowest in the
world. "According to Oil and Gas Journal, Western oil companies
estimate that they can produce a barrel of Iraqi oil for less than
$1.50 and possibly as little as $1, including all exploration,
oilfield development and production costs and including a 15% return.
This is similar to production costs in Saudi Arabia and lower than
virtually any other country."
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/12heart.htm
With ANWR, on the other hand, absolutely no oil is commercially
recoverable at a price of less than $13/barrel and about $20/barrel is
probably needed to recover even 4 billion barrels. So, in other words,
if Bush's oil Nazis ever left Iraq alone so they could develop and
produce their oil, any oil wells in ANWR or Texas, for that matter are
not going to be worth very much. In Texas and other US and Canadian
fields, where deep wells and small reservoirs make production
especially expensive, costs can run above $20 a barrel. When world
market prices dip below $20 a barrel, the North American fields yield
no profit at all, and many are capped, while production in an area
like Iraq proves extremely profitable in all market conditions.
So, now you know why Bush and his oil Nazis are in Iraq. They're not
there to get the oil out of the ground. They're there to keep it in
the ground:
"Keeping Iraq's Oil In the Ground
By Greg Palast, AlterNet
Posted on June 14, 2006, Printed on November 7, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/37371/
World oil production today stands at more than twice the 15-billion a-
year maximum projected by Shell Oil in 1956 -- and reserves are
climbing at a faster clip yet. That leaves the question, Why this war?
Did Dick Cheney send us in to seize the last dwindling supplies?
Unlikely. Our world's petroleum reserves have doubled in just twenty-
five years -- and it is in Shell's and the rest of the industry's
interest that this doubling doesn't happen again. The neo-cons were
hell-bent on raising Iraq's oil production. Big Oil's interest was in
suppressing production, that is, keeping Iraq to its OPEC quota or
less. This raises the question, did the petroleum industry, which had
a direct, if hidden, hand, in promoting invasion, cheerlead for a
takeover of Iraq to prevent overproduction?
It wouldn't be the first time. If oil is what we're looking for, there
are, indeed, extra helpings in Iraq. On paper, Iraq, at 112 billion
proven barrels, has the second largest reserves in OPEC after Saudi
Arabia. That does not make Saudi Arabia happy. Even more important is
that Iraq has fewer than three thousand operating wells... compared to
one million in Texas.
That makes the Saudis even unhappier. It would take a decade or more,
but start drilling in Iraq and its reserves will about double,
bringing it within gallons of Saudi Arabia's own gargantuan pool.
Should Iraq drill on that scale, the total, when combined with the
Saudis', will drown the oil market. That wouldn't make the Texans too
happy either. So Fadhil Chalabi's plan for Iraq to pump 12 million
barrels a day, a million more than Saudi Arabia, is not, to use Bob
Ebel's (Center fro Strategic and International Studies) terminology,
"ridiculous" from a raw resource view, it is ridiculous politically.
It would never be permitted. An international industry policy of
suppressing Iraqi oil production has been in place since 1927. We need
again to visit that imp called "history."
It began with a character known as "Mr. 5%"-- Calouste Gulbenkian --
who, in 1925, slicked King Faisal, neophyte ruler of the country
recently created by Churchill, into giving Gulbenkian's "Iraq
Petroleum Company" (IPC) exclusive rights to all of Iraq's oil.
Gulbenkian flipped 95% of his concession to a combine of western oil
giants: Anglo-Persian, Royal Dutch Shell, CFP of France, and the
Standard Oil trust companies (now ExxonMobil and its "sisters.") The
remaining slice Calouste kept for himself -- hence, "Mr. 5%."
The oil majors had a better use for Iraq's oil than drilling it -- not
drilling it. The oil bigs had bought Iraq's concession to seal it up
and keep it off the market. To please his buyers' wishes, Mr. 5%
spread out a big map of the Middle East on the floor of a hotel room
in Belgium and drew a thick red line around the gulf oil fields,
centered on Iraq. All the oil company executives, gathered in the
hotel room, signed their name on the red line -- vowing not to drill,
except as a group, within the red-lined zone. No one, therefore, had
an incentive to cheat and take red-lined oil. All of Iraq's oil,
sequestered by all, was locked in, and all signers would enjoy a lift
in worldwide prices. Anglo-Persian Company, now British Petroleum
(BP), would pump almost all its oil, reasonably, from Persia (Iran).
Later, the Standard Oil combine, renamed the Arabian-American Oil
Company (Aramco), would limit almost all its drilling to Saudi Arabia.
Anglo-Persian (BP) had begun pulling oil from Kirkuk, Iraq, in 1927
and, in accordance with the Red-Line Agreement, shared its Kirkuk and
Basra fields with its IPC group -- and drilled no more. . ."
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/37371/
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/12heart.htm
http://www.sibelle.info/oped15.htm
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2003/0512globalenvironment_luft.aspx
http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/sp070111.shtml
