1 Boring Old Man

 

Oil Infrastructure Integrity

Crude oil production during September through November 2007 averaged 2.28 million barrels per day (mbbl/d) compared with 2.24 mbbl/d during the same period in 2006. During the month of November 2007, crude oil exports increased to 1.99 mbbl/d from about 1.57 mbbl/d in October 2006, slightly higher than the GoI’s goal of 1.7 mbbl/d. Numerous pipeline interdictions restricted crude exports through Turkey for the early part of this year. However, northern exports have been increasingly regular since late August 2007 due in part to increased security along the pipeline, more capable pipeline repair efforts and added redundancy in the pipeline system resulting from long-term construction and repair efforts. For example, the Kirkuk to Bayji crude and Iraq to Turkey export pipelines were operational for 70 days between August and October, compared to seven operational days during the same period in 2006. U.S.-funded infrastructure hardening projects and negotiations with tribal leaders are underway, which will secure the Bayji Oil Refinery, supporting infrastructure and crude oil pipeline exclusion zones. Higher oil prices are expected to compensate for the temporarily plateaued production levels, resulting in actual government budget revenues exceeding planned revenue targets for the year. Corruption at all levels in the oil industry remains a significant problem. Iraq continues to suffer shortages of refined product because of scarce refining capacity, inadequate security for distribution pipelines and trucks, and under-funding of imports. The MoO has increased domestic production capacity and importation since August 2007, but supplies in northern and central Iraq remain low.

On the day Baghdad fell, Cheney predicted it would be 3 million by the end of 2003…
Before the war Wolfowitz said "we are dealing with a country that can finance its own reconstruction," and told Congress "There’s a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money."

It was a problem was that when Cheney and Wolfowitz said those things, it was like their WMD rhetoric – we believed them. They were very, very wrong. It’s a bigger problem that when it became evident that they were extremely wrong on all counts, they didn’t change course, and we kept believing them.  The biggest problem is that when no one believed them any more, they still didn’t change course.

A lot of us think that the reason we invaded Iraq was a ruse – an excuse to grab a piece of the Middle East Oilfields. Dick Cheney is an expert on how to make things happen in government. He focuses on how to manipulate things to go in his direction. It’s "his direction" that’s the problem. Everything about this Iraq debacle is based on what he wanted to be true, not what was true. So, all we are doing right now in Iraq is chasing his mistake. There’s no oil flowing out of Iraq. There probably never will be – at least not the way Dick Cheney planned. Our soldiers are targets for the jihadists. Our presence is causing a lot of the violence that our children are supposed to be stopping. It’s like an abusive husband going on Dr. Phil asking for help to get his wife under control – unaware that his wife’s behavior is a reaction to his tyranny.