What is the cost of Iraq's Oil?

[formercia]

It seems the US Taxpayer will be paying about $5. per barrel subsidy on every barrel of oil that leaves Iraq, even if it goes somewhere else. Perhaps there should be a non-refundable surcharge on every barrel to offset the cost of the War. I don't like the idea of paying for the oil twice.


http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/irqindx.htm




Oil in Iraq


Copyright: Agence France Presse



Iraq has the world’s second largest proven oil reserves. According to oil industry experts, new exploration will probably raise Iraq’s reserves to 200+ billion barrels of high-grade crude, extraordinarily cheap to produce. The four giant firms located in the US and the UK have been keen to get back into Iraq, from which they were excluded with the nationalization of 1972. During the final years of the Saddam era, they envied companies from France, Russia, China, and elsewhere, who had obtained major contracts. But UN sanctions (kept in place by the US and the UK) kept those contracts inoperable. Since the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, everything has changed. In the new setting, with Washington running the show, "friendly" companies expect to gain most of the lucrative oil deals that will be worth hundreds of billions of dollars in profits in the coming decades.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11880954/

Cost of Iraq war could surpass $1 trillion
Estimates vary, but all agree price is far higher than initially expected

Jacob Silberberg / AP file
The economic ramifications are rarely included in the debate over whether to go to war, although some economists argue it is quite possible and useful to assess potential costs and benefits.




By Martin Wolk
Chief economics correspondent
MSNBC
Updated: 7:25 p.m. ET March 17, 2006


Martin Wolk
Chief economics correspondent
One thing is certain about the Iraq war: It has cost a lot more than advertised. In fact, the tab grows by at least $200 million each and every day.

In the months leading up to the launch of the war three years ago, few Bush administration officials were willing to comment publicly on the potential costs to the United States. After all, no cost would have been too high if the United States faced an imminent threat from an Iraq armed with weapons of mass destruction, the war's stated justification.

[Double T]

1. Priceless blood and guts for which there is NO JUSTIFICATION.

[Parisle]

2. Iraq's oil IS extraordinarily cheap to extract,.....

--- It lies very shallow in the ground,.. and it is high-grade stuff, too. Very attractive to Big Oil. I have seen it quoted that a barrel of Saudi crude cost upwards of fifteen bucks to extract, whereas the same barrel pumped out of Iraq costs under ten bucks. Something to think about, eh?

[formercia]

3. It's easy to see

why Big Oil wants to get their grubby little rat claws on the PSA's.