Fishing Q&A

IRAQ. You still think it's NOT about the oil? Think again?

April 10, 2007 Middle East News The line of ships at the Al Basra Oil Terminal (ABOT) stretches south to the horizon, patiently waiting in the searing heat of the Northern Arabian Gulf as four giant supertankers load up. Close by, two more tankers fill up at the smaller Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT). Guarding both terminals are dozens of heavily-armed U.S. Navy troops and Iraqi Marines who live on the platforms. These two offshore terminals, a maze of pipes and precarious metal walkways, deliver some 1.6 million barrels of crude oil, at least 85 percent of Iraq's output, to buyers from all over the world. If the southern oil fields are the heart of Iraq's economy, its main arteries are three 40-plus inch pipelines that stretch some 52 miles from Iraq's wells to the ports. Heavily armed soldiers spend their days at the oil terminals scanning the horizon looking for suicide bombers and stray fishing dhows (boats). Meanwhile, right under their noses, smugglers are suspected to be diverting an estimated billions of dollars worth of crude onto tankers because the oil metering system that is supposed monitor how much crude flows into and out of ABOT and KAAOT - has not worked since the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Officials blame the four-year delay in repairing the relatively simple system on "security problems." Others point to the failed efforts of the two U.S. companies hired to repair the southern oil fields, fix the two terminals, and the meters: Halliburton of Houston, Texas, and Parsons of Pasadena, California. I know more than you think. I definitely know that the oil contracts have yet to be signed by westerners. But we shall watch that shan't we. You can't intimidate me.

Public Comments

1. DAMN
2. Yes, I still think the war is not about oil. I notice your little article fails to mention the fact that all the money being made from these " 1.6 million barrels of crude oil" belongs to the Iraqis. Nice try, but the Iraqi government has yet to sign over oil contracts to foreign investors. Thanks for playing, though.
3. You don't need to tell me pal I know what's going on but as my name sake says my eyes are open. A lot of other peoples eyes on here have been punched permanently shut and therefore have no hope of seeing what is right in front of them. Probably due to annoyance of people who have a clue what they are talking about getting so pissed off with them that they can't help but punch their eyes closed.
4. and? If all that oil gets taken off the market, how do you think we are going to fare? Most Americans don't have a clue as to how dependent we really are on that oil. Most of you think gas pump prices. Gas goes up to $7 a galon or higher, so what, you can ride the bus, or bicycle to work....WRONG! Take a loaf of bread. How did it come to be? a farmer had to plant some wheat, harvest the wheat, take it to the mill. Tractor. Combine. Truck. After the mill turns the wheat into flour it is loaded into tanker trucks, maybe trains and taken to the bakery. More fuel. The bakery makes the bread. puts it into plastic bags, made from petroleum. The bagged loaf of bread is put on another truck, taken to the grocer's warehouse, then another truck to the store where you buy it. If fuel is $7 a gallon or more, how much you think that loaf of bread is going to cost??
5. YOU think again. There are over 13 countries from where we get oil!