Pipeline to carry Iraqi crude to Iran

[Joe98]

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index...-26%5Cdoha.htm

Iraq has accepted an Iranian offer to build a pipeline connecting its terminals and refineries to the prolific Iraqi oil fields in Basra.

Assem Jihad, Oil Ministry’s Information Officer said, the agreement was reached during a meeting between Oil Minister Hussain Shahristani and the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad.

Initially, the pipeline will carry 200,000 barrels of Iraqi crude to Iran.

The countries will soon form a joint committee on how to implement the project, Jihad said.

However, Jihad declined comment on financing and duration of execution.

But said Shahristani has invited Iranian firms to invest in Iraq and present their offers to build new refineries in the country.

The government has said it would extend Iranian firms preferential treatment because many of them are still operating in southern Iraq despite the flight of other foreign companies.

Jihad also said Shahristani has recently met with an EU energy delegation to see whether Iraq can contribute to meet the union’s insatiable demand for gas and oil.

He said the EU delegation expressed a desire to import Iraqi gas and particularly from the Kash field in the northern Province of Nineveh.

......


What ever happenned to the Iraqi puppet government following the orders of the USA???


-

[Woodrow]

I just approved of this one a few hours early. It was submitted yesterday, but shortly after the ones selected for approval had already been approved.

I did do a small edit in the original and made the link for the story clickable.

I'm curious though this seems to be more of a token agreement. 200,000 barrels of oil is a very small amount and will not affect the economy of either Iran or Iraq.

Just for comparesion here is the Daily oil consumption for the US alone.

20,802,000 barrels/day

The Daily world consuption of oil is:

84,035,000 barrels/day

Source:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/quickfacts/quickoil.html

[Cognescenti]

well...if the figure is 200,000 barrels a day that hardly seems trivial (1% of US daily consumption). The price curve for oil is inelastic (ie very steep when supply is short... because it is so important to the world economy that buyers continue to buy). Therefore, adding .5% to the daily supply is significant. I am pretty sure this stuff has no way to get out of Iraq right now.

Also...that is about $15M dollars a day in revenue :) I hope the Al Tikriti clan isn't hoping for any of it though. :)

[جوري]

I don't think anyone in IRAQ has hope for that revenue.. we all know where it is going..

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[Keltoi]

How creative

[Woodrow]

well...if the figure is 200,000 barrels a day that hardly seems trivial (1% of US daily consumption). The price curve for oil is inelastic (ie very steep when supply is short... because it is so important to the world economy that buyers continue to buy). Therefore, adding .5% to the daily supply is significant. I am pretty sure this stuff has no way to get out of Iraq right now.

Also...that is about $15M dollars a day in revenue :) I hope the Al Tikriti clan isn't hoping for any of it though. :)

I personaly suspect that this will be intended mostly for Iranian internal use. Iranian oil production has declined about 200,000 Bbls per day in recent years.

Iran's oil industry will require $18bn in next five years: expert
TEHRAN, Jan. 11 (Mehr News Agency) -- Given that the addition of every new barrel of oil to the current production capacity calls for around $7,000 of investment in the field, the nation's oil industry will require around $18 billion of investment in the next five years, an expert noted.

In order to be able to reach the oil production level target of 5.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in the Fourth Five-Year Socio Economic Development Plan (2004-2009), some 2.6 million bpd should be added to the nation's current production capacity, Fereydun Berkeshly maintained.

Reduction in the production capacity is a challenge facing the country's crude production now, he warned.

He added that based on the world figures, every day some 200,000 barrels of the nation's oil production capacity is lost due to the descent of the existing oil deposits, this means that if through increased investments, 200,000 bpd are added to the current production capacity, the envisaged production target will not be achieved yet, the oil expert further explained.

Source: http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jan/1134.html

[Cognescenti]

I personaly suspect that this will be intended mostly for Iranian internal use. Iranian oil production has declined about 200,000 Bbls per day in recent years.
[/URL]

That may be true, but Iran is still a net oil exporter, is it not?

[Woodrow]

That may be true, but Iran is still a net oil exporter, is it not?

At the moment Iran is an exporter of some refined product, but it is a large importer of refined products such as gasoline. In fact it is the world's second largest importer of Gasoline. It is not a major exporter of crude oil.

Large imports of gasoline. Domestically, Iran
sets low prices for oil products and natural gas.
A gallon of gasoline sells for less than 40¢.
Low prices and an increase in population since
1980 from 40 to 68 million people have pushed
Iran’s gasoline consumption beyond its refining
capacity. Motor gasoline consumption has
increased by nearly 13 percent annually from
2000 to 2004, resulting in an estimated 170,000
b/d of gasoline imports last year. On a net basis,
Iran’s gasoline imports rank second in the
world. Its import bill for gasoline is running at
$3 to $4 billion per year. An estimated 25
percent of Iran’s gasoline imports come from
Persian Gulf countries, 15 percent from India,
and the remainder from a variety of sources,
including France, Turkey, Singapore, the
Netherlands, and the PRC. Iran is a net exporter
of refined products in total, based on shipments
of residual fuel oil.

Source:
http://www.house.gov/jec/studies/rr109-31.pdf

[Cognescenti]

At the moment Iran is an exporter of some refined product, but it is a large importer of refined products such as gasoline. In fact it is the world's second largest importer of Gasoline. It is not a major exporter of crude oil.



Source:
http://www.house.gov/jec/studies/rr109-31.pdf

Wow...I guess the "Islamic Revolution" isn't going so well.

[Hawa]

Just goes to prove that Iran really isn't a threat to world peace otherwise Talabani would never double cross his American friends and trade with the enemy.

[Cognescenti]

Just goes to prove that Iran really isn't a threat to world peace otherwise Talabani would never double cross his American friends and trade with the enemy.

It proves no such thing. Talabani doesn't even come close to absolute power. He has to answer to the Shia powerbrokers...like Sadr, for eg.

Here are a set of dominoes that may fall from Iran's centrifuge funny business:



Arabs make plans for nuclear power
Iran's program appears to be stirring interest that some fear will lead to a scramble for atomic weapons in the volatile region.
By Bob Drogin and Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writers
May 26, 2007


- U.S. allies going nuclear
VIENNA — As Iran races ahead with an illicit uranium enrichment effort, nearly a dozen other Middle East nations are moving forward on their own civilian nuclear programs. In the latest development, a team of eight U.N. experts on Friday ended a weeklong trip to Saudi Arabia to provide nuclear guidance to officials from six Persian Gulf countries.

Diplomats and analysts view the Saudi trip as the latest sign that Iran's suspected weapons program has helped spark a chain reaction of nuclear interest among its Arab rivals, which some fear will lead to a scramble for atomic weapons in the world's most volatile region.

The International Atomic Energy Agency sent the team of nuclear experts to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to advise the Gulf Cooperation Council on building nuclear energy plants. Together, the council members — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the seven sheikdoms of the United Arab Emirates — control nearly half the world's known oil reserves.

Other nations that have said they plan to construct civilian nuclear reactors or have sought technical assistance and advice from the IAEA, the Vienna-based United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, in the last year include Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Yemen, as well as several North African nations.

None of the governments has disclosed plans to build nuclear weapons. But Iran's 18-year secret nuclear effort and its refusal to comply with current U.N. Security Council demands have raised concerns that the Arab world will decide it needs to counter a potentially nuclear-armed Iran. The same equipment can enrich uranium to fuel civilian reactors or, in time and with further enrichment, atomic bombs.

"There is no doubt that countries around the gulf are worried … about whether Iran is seeking nuclear weapons," Gregory L. Schulte, the U.S. representative to U.N. agencies in Vienna, said in an interview. "They're worried about whether it will prompt a nuclear arms race in the region, which would be to no one's benefit."

The United States has long supported the spread of peaceful nuclear energy under strict international safeguards. Schulte said Washington's diplomatic focus remained on stopping Iran before it could produce fuel for nuclear weapons, rather than on trying to restrict nations from developing nuclear power for generating electricity.

But those empowered to monitor and regulate civilian nuclear programs around the world are worried. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the IAEA, warned Thursday that the surge of interest in sensitive nuclear technology raised the risk of weapons proliferation. Without singling out any nation, he cautioned that some governments might insist on enriching their own uranium to ensure a steady supply of reactor fuel.

"The concern is that by mastering the fuel cycle, countries move dangerously close to nuclear weapons capability," ElBaradei told a disarmament conference in Luxembourg.

Iran is the obvious case in point. Tehran this week defied another U.N. Security Council deadline by which it was to freeze its nuclear program. The IAEA reported that Iran instead was accelerating uranium enrichment without having yet built the reactors that would need the nuclear fuel. At the same time, the IAEA complained, Iran's diminishing cooperation had made it impossible to confirm Tehran's claims that the program is only for peaceful purposes.

That has unnerved Iran's neighbors as well as members of the Security Council.

"We have the right if the Iranians are going to insist on their right to develop their civilian nuclear program," said Mustafa Alani, a security expert at the Gulf Research Center, a think tank based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. "We tell the Iranians, 'We have no problem with you developing civilian nuclear energy, but if you're going to turn your nuclear program into a weapons program, we'll do the same.' "

Iran sought to rally Arab support for its nuclear program at the World Economic Forum meeting of business and political leaders this month in Jordan.

"Iran will be a partner, a brotherly partner, and will share its capabilities with the people of the region," Mohammed J.A. Larijani, a former deputy foreign minister, told reporters.

Arab officials were cool to his approach, however, and openly questioned Iran's intentions.

The IAEA team's weeklong foray to Saudi Arabia followed ElBaradei's visit to the kingdom in April. The Gulf Cooperation Council plans to present the results of its study on developing nuclear plants to the leaders of council nations in the Omani capital of Muscat in December.

"They don't say it, but everyone can see that [Iran] is at least one of the reasons behind the drive to obtaining the nuclear technology," said Salem Ahmad Sahab, a professor of political science at King Abdulaziz University in Jidda, Saudi Arabia. "If the neighbors are capable of obtaining the technology, why not them?"

Officially, leaders of the Arab gulf states say they are eager to close a technology gap with Iran, as well as with Israel, which operates two civilian reactors and is widely believed to have built at least 80 nuclear warheads since the 1960s. Israel does not acknowledge its nuclear arsenal under a policy aimed at deterring regional foes while avoiding an arms race.

Advocates argue that the gulf states need nuclear energy despite their vast oil and natural gas reserves.

The region's growing economies suffer occasional summer power outages, and the parched climate makes the nations there susceptible to water shortages, which can be offset by the energy-intensive processing of seawater.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...ck=2&cset=true

[Woodrow]

Just goes to prove that Iran really isn't a threat to world peace otherwise Talabani would never double cross his American friends and trade with the enemy.

I agree. Currently Iran does not have the gasoline to operate an effective military assault against anybody. Things like Airplanes and tanks do require a tremendous amount of gasoline.

[Keltoi]

I agree. Currently Iran does not have the gasoline to operate an effective military assault against anybody. Things like Airplanes and tanks do require a tremendous amount of gasoline.

Nobody is worried about Iran's military, they are worried about their pursuit of nuclear technology.

[Woodrow]

Nobody is worried about Iran's military, they are worried about their pursuit of nuclear technology.

Quite true. the problem with nukes is even if somebody does not have the ability to use them in a strategic military manner, they can still do a lot of random damge in just a matter of minutes.

With the advent of nukes, all out war is never going to be long term. Back in the 60s it was estimated that all out war between the US and Russia would only last about 20 minutes and then Tierra d'el Fuego could walk in and conquer the remains of both. provided anybody in Tierra d'el Fuego had survived.

But, to get back on topic. Iran needs oil. Iraq is the closest source.

[Cognescenti]

Quite true. the problem with nukes is even if somebody does not have the ability to use them in a strategic military manner, they can still do a lot of random damge in just a matter of minutes.

With the advent of nukes, all out war is never going to be long term. Back in the 60s it was estimated that all out war between the US and Russia would only last about 20 minutes and then Tierra d'el Fuego could walk in and conquer the remains of both. provided anybody in Tierra d'el Fuego had survived.

But, to get back on topic. Iran needs oil. Iraq is the closest source.

I like the idea of people buying the things they need. It's called Capitalism.

It does occur to me, however, that if Iran continues to misbehave, it would be a simple matter to talk some of the chaps who have been blowing up pipelines in central Iraq to just move a bit further South. Two could play at that game.

[wilberhum]

I like the idea of people buying the things they need. It's called Capitalism.

It does occur to me, however, that if Iran continues to misbehave, it would be a simple matter to talk some of the chaps who have been blowing up pipelines in central Iraq to just move a bit further South. Two could play at that game.

Now I assume that Iran is supporting those that blow up pipelines. So I also assume that they will not be bothered by this problem.

[Cognescenti]

Now I assume that Iran is supporting those that blow up pipelines. So I also assume that they will not be bothered by this problem.

I'm not so sure. Iran wants the US out because their guys are in the majority. They want infrastructure to work after the Coalition leaves.

[wilberhum]

I'm not so sure. Iran wants the US out because their guys are in the majority. They want infrastructure to work after the Coalition leaves.

But of course one of the ways for Iran to end up looking good is to keep the infrastructure destroyed until they formally declare that they are coming in.

[Cognescenti]

But of course one of the ways for Iran to end up looking good is to keep the infrastructure destroyed until they formally declare that they are coming in.

That is true. Of course, some CIA chaps could dress up in robes and blow up the Iranian pipeline. :-)

[Keltoi]

That is true. Of course, some CIA chaps could dress up in robes and blow up the Iranian pipeline. :-)

Supposedly a lot of that going around...:D