Iraq Oil Report

Plus:
*DPM Barham Salih: Iraq has more oil than Saudi Arabia
*Australian patrol accidently cuts southern power lines
*In the Line of Fire, latest by War Radio News
*Iraq Press Roundup
*More…

Iraq’s Oil Ministry has extended to May 18 the bid deadline for the Akkas gas field project, aimed at developing the gas field for export to Syria and Europe, United Press International’s Ben Lando reports. Shell, Total and Edison are the largest companies to have made overtures to develop the Akkas gas field, which will be overseen by the State Company for Oil Projects.

Iraq may have oil reserves of 350 billion barrels, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said, a massive figure that is triple the country’s proven reserves and which even exceeds the oil in Saudi Arabia, Dean Yates reports for Reuters.
Iraq’s official reserves are at 115 billion barrels of oil, but the country is massively UNDER-explored.

An Australian army patrol has emerged unscathed after their armoured vehicle struck power lines in southern Iraq, Ben Knight reports for Australia’s ABC News. The Bushmaster vehicle was on a routine patrol in Nasiriya in southern Iraq last night when it struck low-hanging power lines.

Iraq: Regional Perspectives and U.S. Policy, a new report from the Congressional Research Service, published by the Federation of American Scientists.

In The Line Of Fire, the latest series from War News Radio: An ongoing initiative to re-integrate former soldiers into Iraq’s new military; soldiers on active duty who are also actively against the war; how U.S. service members in Iraq are using Facebook to keep in touch; the history of the Iraqi army; and, an Iraqi policeman trying to enforce the law in a lawless city.

Poverty Gets the Survivors, Maki al-Nazzal and Dahr Jamail report for Inter Press Service. More than a million Iraqis were lucky enough to flee into Syria. But in this relatively safe haven, there is no getting away from poverty.

American and Iraqi forces in Baghdad have been targeted with 251 improvised bombs this month — nearly double the monthly average — as fighting in and around Sadr City intensified, Jim Michaels reports for USA Today.

Read Iraq’s editorial pages: the Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.

The U.S. is struggling to hand Iraq control of many of its reconstruction projects after spending tens of billions of dollars on them since the 2003 invasion, a report said Monday, The Associated Press reports. The AP article gives the impression its mostly Iraq’s fault for the transfer of control problems, when in reality it’s a combination of Iraq institutional incapability and the poor U.S. planning for both short and long term.

Read the report by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Transfering Reconstruction Projects To The Government Of Iraq: Some Progress Made But Further Improvements Needed To Avoid Waste.

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